Love Life Raw & Organic

Ok so it's a(nother) miserably cold rainy day for the first week of "Summer" (pfft; I'll believe it when I see it yeh) in Sydney; but a perfect day to be at home in my trakkie-daks to finally knuckle down with some study (and blogging) !!

Last week I told you guys I had ordered a days worth of organic juices from a place in Sydney, purely for curiosity sake as to what it was all about as I have seen a rise in 'juice-cleanses' and such around town with everyone jumping on the detox-bandwagon. I make my own juices usually and I've never actually done the whole get-a-juice-cleanse-delivered-to-your-door-thing, so was keen to give it a go. Only because I stumbled across one place that does 100% organic juice.



The company I ordered from is O-Zone and they are in Mosman, Sydney. I chose their 'Pure Cleanse' because of the juices (not smoothies) and price (mid-range), but they offer 3 different types of cleanses. Luckily I don't work too far from there so delivery was free and came nice and early (you can specify as to when you'd like delivery) to work on Wednesday morning; I was giddy like a little kid in a lolly shop with excitement!
I got my very own little green cooler bag filled with 4x 500ml organic juices, 2 organic coconut waters, 2 loose-leaf herbal tea sacks (yep, these are way cooler than tea bags folks), and a noni/aloe/filtered water mix to start my day. I wasn't particularly keen on how that would taste not being either a noni or aloe fan, but I was pleasantly surprised... for half the bottle... then the rest just got necked back!
 

Happiest little bee at 730am on a Wednesday...

BUT... (and no, there is not always a but) as an unfortunate series of events unfolded that day (and unexpected excrutiating period pain that was close to debilitating), I kept on with my juices (herbal teas, essential oils, tissue salts, visualisations, you name it!) but had a few medjool dates mid morning, and a couple more later on. I had bad news call me, then couldn't get out of babysitting that evening, but the adorable family I sit for bought me the latest Wellbeing and Yoga Journal magazines to read whilst dying on their lounge, and their beautiful girl made me a drawing and a card. Awww. I was very touched by their kindness.



So anyway, the juice day would have been totally wonderful if not the few thing that kinda shook me up, but I was very impressed and happy with the service, juices, quantities and price!

Today I actually wanted to write all about Gabriel Cousins lecture in Sydney last Sunday... but I'm going to save that for a few days coz I really want to get a few things off my chest here and would love your feedback.
So fair warning here I can be a bit of a rambler - but it seems that no matter if (to me) my ramblings seem a little disjointed and all over the shop - they seem to resonate well with others (maybe we all have a little scatter-brain inside) so allow me to ramble...

Only this morning someone very close to me said "I think you're really stressed" - and followed it with "I don't think you're breathing" -
two very strong yet gentle pieces of prose. And only in hearing such did I stop to think maybe they were spot on.
Ok I know I've got alot on my plate at the moment juggling extra work shifts, trying desperately to fit my studies in which always seem to get pushed aside, and on top of that my personal studies (college work aside) to research and follow up on things that get my insides bubbling with excitement!! Then there's my training that I love and go mad without, helping mum out with her yoga assessments playing guinea pig, taking orders and making xmas cakes, blogging, and only recently remembering I need to fit in my prac hours for college too somewhere! Ontop of worrying and dashing to and from the hospital for an ill family member, which I've been very lucky to have never experienced before, but it really takes it's toll on you. Like now. It's the one day I can study this week. Every other day is a right off with work, appointments, making cakes, work again, a xmas do I need to make more food for, then work again... and I get a call that maybe I should go to the hospital coz it's not looking so good... But it wasn't looking good 3 days ago when we were there all afternoon and evening... but it was great yesterday. It's up and down. I have faith. But at the same time I don't want to have regrets. I don't want to sound like a whinging bitch with "too much on" to see a sick loved one. But when I get to the point where one mention of a change in plans brings me to tears and in a panic, something's gotta give or I'll break! I've got to say no to something but from my vision it appears I cant say no to any of it just yet - it's all as important. If anything, my study is what always gets the "no", but I love it so not doing it plays on my mind in terms of falling behind, but also because it gives me great joy that I keep missing out on. When it's me and my books, the words, (the laptop,) reading, writing, learning, and getting so excited by new things I discover!! It's when I don't have the time to do that, everything seems hard, and tough, and not so fun, and long, and never ending - "where's my study day?"

"Just make sure you're eating right and getting enough sleep" was advice from the man I love, and it's probably very good advice. What else can you do? I'm the first to suggest to others that maybe they are doing too much; particularly easy to see when one's health is suffering. But it's almost as if until there are true physical signs of deteriorating health, we don't do or change anything! "It wont happen to me" mentality. And for the most part, that's not me at all. I'm very good with my health. I can honestly and easily say it's one of my top values. But it's the stress-side of things that I'm still trying to learn about and understand. At one point I sincerely thought I had never experienced stress in my life. Only later I came to realise I had more than likely lived with it everyday of my life from about age 7, only a much milder version that I was completely unaware of. But long term milder stress is no way better than short term chronic stress.

So that;s my rambling... now I'll get into my study and pump out as much as I can with a smile on my face, and decide about the hospital later. I wouldn't be going right this minute anyways, so why think and worry about it now?

If you have any hints, tips, suggestions, things that work for you, stories of your own, please share as I would love to hear them. Thanks for listening to my ramblings :) I'll write up about Gabriel Cousins later this week if I can find the time to do so. It was an amazing talk overflowing with valuable information I cannot wait to share with you guys!

The Lure of Fasting

So I was going to write up a recipe for a childhood fav of many - delicious, crunchy, smile-on-ur-dial,
CHOCOLATE CRACKLES I made the other day for the college girls... or possibly show all the photos from the dinner I made Brock for his birthday... but right now I feel the urge to write about something completley different (sorry girls, recipe next post I promise).

I just read an article posted by Gena from Choosing Raw (my favourite blogspot hands down) titled

"The Lure of Juice Fasting"

- appropriate title having succumbed to it myself on previous occasions. I've even written about the benfits of juicing here and when I feel it's right to be drinking more juices here, and then how I went on one juice fast here, here and here.


It's an intersting topic of debate it seems - Is juice fasting "good" or "bad"? Is juice fasting NECESSARY?
And since I began dabbling into RAW foods last year, the concept has always intrigued me. I was an advocate you could say. But I also felt like an imposter. Surrounded by like-minded people, the "raw community" are usually all for juice fasting. It makes sense; their diets are usually already so clean that fasting is easy(er). Yet something about it was always hard for me. For many reasons I felt juicing was great; some beneficial - I wondered how I would feel? Perhaps my skin will clear? Perhaps my digestion will improve? Will my energy levels soar? Etc etc etc. And all those reasons are great, and valid, and were enough to give it a try. Numerous tries. But I know some of my reasons, disguised by good intentions, were not so well intended.

But back to JUICING. On a very basic level, the benefits of juicing are HUGE. I've read alot about it, spoken to people about it, listened to others about it, and tried it myself. It can be liberating, cleansing, uplifting. But it can also be painful, tiring, and very tough. It all comes down to the individual and what their diet was like to begin with - in my opinion.

I believe that if an individual eats wholefoods in their most natural state; sprouts and sprouted nuts and seeds, organic fruits and vegies, pure water, pseudograins such as quinoa, buckwheat, and millet, seaweeds, cold pressed oils, good fats, superfoods, etc to obtain optimal nutrition, and chooses NOT to eat processed, refined, synthetic foods, then juice fasting shouldn't NECESSARILY be necessary. If however the diet in discussion is one high in refined processed foods and lacking quality wholefoods then yes, I believe juice fasting (even for a day) would be of some benefit. However, and perhaps ironically, going the whole hog and juicing for weeks straight from a meat/dairy/acid diet I would not recommend (unless of course it was in conjunction with a series of colonics - another can of worms I could write about for ages). Yet these people would no doubt benefit more wouldn't you think? Once they're past the first hurdle at least.

Personally, there was always something about juicing that didn't quite gel for me. Was it willpower - or more a lack of? Was it the lengthy time it took in preparing my juices that got to me? Or the difficulty in seeing everyone around me eat solid foods whilst I had told myself I wasn't allowed too? I wanted to be the girl who could fast for weeks and weeks and look AMAZING, feel SENSATIONAL, and be BOUNDING with energy. Perhaps living amongst the chaos of Sydney makes it tricky, and if I were out on retreat in the middle of the desert of Arizona it would be easier, but whatever the reason/s, juicing for extended periods of time is hard for me to do.

Then reading Gina's post this morning, I thought perhaps it's my bodies way of protecting itself as I can relate to Gina here:

"I’m also on the slender side, and tend to lose weight without too much difficulty if I don’t eat plentifully enough. I don’t think my system would stand up well to nearly nonexistent levels of fat and protein for days at a time."

And for other reasons here; a quote that I could have written myself:

"given my psychological history, skipping meals is a minefield I’d rather not tread upon... A raw foodist friend once tried to explain how fasting helps you move “beyond food,” and to detach yourself from eating. For numerous years of my life I ate sporadically or not at all. The last thing I need is to prove that I don’t need food, emotionally or psychologically. I do need food, but not in a way that’s bad. Realizing this has been one of the major accomplishments of my adult years."

"...she did enjoy the feeling of detachment from physicality, sensuality, which is truly the emotional promise of a fast. This hit home with me, because I believe it’s what so many anorexics seek out, and find, with starvation. Let’s file this under “reasons I don’t think former anorexics ought ever to get too involved with fasting.” But let me also say that, as alluring as that feeling of ethereality might be, I’d like to remind all of my readers that the feeling of solid, grounded, nourishment is sweeter in so many ways. Newman writes, “I wasn’t thinking about food. I wasn’t thinking about drink. I wasn’t even thinking about sex. The appetites that rule me every single day were my slaves, for once. By that third day I wasn’t craving anything. I was free.”

As liberating as it may feel to not be thinking or feeling about food, drink, sex or anything for that matter... it is also extremely numbing in every sense. I can see how that may appeal to alot of poeple, myself included, but having been there I know it's not a particuarly nice place to be in, and one that can also be very hard to get out of. It's ADDICTIVE. And this is where my not-so-beneficial reasons for wanting to fast step from.

"You won’t hear me deny that weightlessness, lightness, emptiness, and cleanliness are all appealing physical sensations. They are, and I wonder if I’ll ever have a day when I don’t sometimes cast an eye backward and yearn for those feelings again. But they’re risky yearnings, and they strike me as inhumane in the deepest of ways."

All that said, I do still yearn to fast. Alot. But is it the healthiest thing for me to be doing given my past? Probably not. Will that stop me in the future? Again, probably not entirely. But at least now I feel I have a better understanding of my (sometimes erratic) thoughts and acknowledgement of how I function (again, albeit sometimes erratic).

Crazy. Does what I wrote even make sense? Who knows. It's taken me a good few hours of thinking and pondering and staring out the window to finally get that out of my head and onto the screen so even if it doesn't make sense, I'm not fussed. I'm used to feeling a little confused :)

Anyways, I'll be sure to post up the Chocolate Crackles recipe over the weekend so be sure to check back. Until then, enjoy the last of the Friday sunshine :)

Stress or Simplicity?

The remainder of my week...

WOW! It's been huge! Alot of realisations. Alot of thinking. Alot more awareness. And alot of stress...

which led me to ditching the jucing thing after 4 days.

I found that I was in the kitchen juicing for hours each day and having no time for anything else which was really impacting the rest of my being - I was getting more stressed trying to fit it all in.

Fresh coconut water was a blessing though - quick hack job and voila! Raw white wine. And better :) And all that delicious white flesh... I'll be showing you a COCONUT ICE CREAM recipe soon... :)



I'm still dry skin brushing every day or every second day. Taking my liquid herbs. MSM twice everyday (LOVE that stuff). And have a few other supplements to my diet that I'll touch on some other time.

So tonight, after a big week, that is yet to end as college is back on all weekend... I whipped up a two really SIMPLE SALADS that really hit the spot!



Bok choy, celery, parsley, broccoli...

Carrot, zucchini, seeds, currants, cumin, cinnamon...

Both drizzled with olive oil and a citrus fruit I'm unsue of... perhaps a pomello? A cross between an orange and a lemon. Delicious.

Hungry for juice?

Today my head aches seemed to have disappeared (turns out the celery tip might have done the trick - thanks Glen). However I am in agony right now as my legs are aching something severe! Aside from being on my feet all day, which is nothing unusual for me, I don't know why they would be hurting so much :(

So, my JUICING. Well it turns out I'm not the SuperWoman I wished I was - I had a few nuts last night after my juices. Why? Not really sure. I felt like eating them.
And then I felt them. Severe cramps followed. So I had a warm peppermint tea which helped only slightly. Intersting to see how my body reacted after only 2 days on juices.

Today I've had...

1L apple and celery juice
600ml water
600ml orange and daikon juice (strangely amazingly good)
1L tomato, cucumber, celery juice (delicious!)
1L green juice (whole bunch choy sum, half head celery, big chunk of ginger and a lemon)


I bought 5 young coconuts as well that I look forward to getting into. I've done dry skin brushing, had a facial, taken my herbs, evening primrose oil and MSM.

I've also felt urges for solid food and part of me wants to give in - thinking maybe now isnt the right time to juice. But another part of me thinks that's my belly talking, and in actual fact now is as good as any time, and the only reason I'm feeling urges for solid food is to keep any surfacing emotions I'd rather not look at from getting to me...

What to do?


Keep juicing. Go day by day. And see how I feel. Really feel. I've got enough celery, greens, apples, oranges, carrots, pears, ginger, lemons, and more to fed an army. the only way to get through them all is to juice them!

And to remind myself that I'm striving for the GLOW.
A week on JUICE is a week of digestion rest and relaxation, whilst still getting MORE nutrients than my usual solid food diet to support my body, skin, soul.

When I'm JUICING, I LOVE it. I LOVE the way I feel on juice. Clean, Clear, Light. That's all I need to remember :)

Juicing in the Hyatt

So I'm on Day 2 of my JUICING! So far so good. Having started on a weekend when I had nothing planned was a very good idea I think.

After my delicious morning juice yesterday, the rest of my day looked a little like this...

2 cups of warm water
300ml of fresh apple juice with a hint of cinnamon
1 young coconut (water AND flesh blended together)
300ml green juice - zucchini, cos, bok choy, lemon and ginger
600ml water
300ml orange and apple juice
300ml beetroot, broccoli, daikon, carrot and kale juice

And around all that I had ...

4 tsp MSM
6ml vitex and wild yam
20ml thyroid herbs
30ml herbal tonic
1 evening primrose capsule

Not alot of juice to be honest but I was pottering around home all day studying so the calories weren't really needed.

Today I've had...

500ml beetroot, carrot, apple, ginger juice
500ml broccoli, celery, zucchini, bok choy, kale, cos, lemon, ginger juice
300ml carrot, apple, orange juice (at the Park Hyatt!!)
500ml broccoli, celery, zucchini, bok choy, kale, cos, lemon, ginger juice (made a big lot of it this morn)
500ml coconut water

(WOW! The only just had that and the coconut had SO MUCH water inside! Yesterday I had the flesh as well for some good fats but the rest of the week I'll only be having the water - saving the flesh to make RAW ICE CREAM!)

But the day's not over yet!

I ventured down to the Rocks Aroma Festival with Dad and Gail this morning as I LOVE the atmosphere of markets and festivals in the sun. It's all things coffee, tea, chocolate and spices. Sensory overload! ALthough I no longer drink coffee, I still have a very strange relationship with it -

as a Barista for 8yrs or there abouts, and having travelled Europe; predominantley Italia, I became a bit of a coffee snob. I loved my morning cup. I went from flat whites, with sugar to no sugar, then to soy milk mochas, back to flat whites, and then for the longest time LOVED it black. But it had to be good. Short black. Long black. No sugar. I would've died a happy woman with a coffee in my hand. The smell, the taste, the culture around it, the rituals that go with it, the history of it... See! A strange relationship. I could write a whole book on it! Yet I continue to not drink it. Moving on...

The festival was BUSTLING with people, music, and excitement as children happily giggled their stomachs sore on the camel rides along the foreshore. Turkish dances entertained the crowds and there was even a guy giving coffee readings!



Walking past the Park Hyatt I said I had always wanted to stay there to swim in the pool, and sit on the funky chairs in the window - so on the way back Dad decided to stop in for a drink. (Prior to midday) He was feeling the crisp, cold white wine, Gail ordered a hit cappuccino, and I got a delicious carrot, apple and orange juice.




I've had more energy today than yesterday but I also think it's due to getting outside. I've had that feeling of hunger in my belly for most of the weekend, but I've also had clarity of thoughts in my head. I felt a few ups and downs yesterday where a part of me felt I could have easily slipped into the pantry - but I knew it was purely emotional and would have done me no good. I remind myself why I chose to JUICE and can easily be back on track.

The Last Supper

So... like the new layout? I was playing around with so many different designs and layouts for hours I was getting nothing else done! So I've decided on this one for now and I'll see how it goes. So far so good. I'm liking it :) Simple yet still EXCITING and colourful.

Now, not-so-nice-note, this past week I've had a head ache pretty much everyday. No idea why. I've also felt nauseous at times. Again I've no idea why. And I'm not one that experiences ill health often so it's been a little uncomfortable to say the least. Taking it day by day and trying to focus on other things, I'm very happy to begin my JUICING this weekend.



I've been looking forward to it; I'm actually very EXCITED about it. The thought of CLEANSING, CLEARING :) The sensations I feel when I'm on path to finding my GLOW :) I've got a load of fruits and vegies, ginger as well, and I pre-cut enough for a few days this morning to save me time around my busy schedule. There are a few other bits and pieces that I'll be having as well as fresh juices - such as MSM, coconut water, my naturopathic herbs... I hope to see my colon hydrotherapist but I can't see it fitting into this week :( Salt baths, ionic foot cleanses, dry skin brushing... I'm doing a top-to-toe clean out.

So last night I made sure I had a DELICIOUS dinner with Brock as I don't know when I'll be eating solids again. It seems funny that whenever we embark on a detox or a cleanse of sorts, we feel the need to have one last SPLURGE before we "deprive" ourselves. Vegetarian pizza and a big bowl of ice cream was no doubt my LAST SUPPER of choice in high school. Not these days. I was hanging out for CABBAGE! Haha Oh how we change! I love the stuff. And with onion, together, you couldn't have 2 more BEAUTIFYING foods thanks to their high sulphur content (think hair, EYES, skin, nails).
So here's THE LAST SUPPER.

Crunchy Creamy Coleslaw


1/2 red cabbage
1/4 red onion
2 large carrots
big handful of rocket
cob of corn

All sliced, diced, chopped how ever you wish. Drizzle olive oil over it all and mix it through.
Then for the creamy dressing, I threw 3/4 of a large avocado in the blender with an orange and half a lemon. Bit of salt and pepper. Then mixed that through. Finito!

So how long will I be JUICING? I don't know. At first I thought a week. But then I thought, well if my body (for whatever reason) isn't up to it now, I might only last a few days. But on the flip side, after a week I might still be feeling the need to continue. 10 days. 2 weeks. Until I physically really feel the HUNGER for solid food again, I'll be juicing.
Now one could say they'd feel hungry after a few days surely, but the thing with cleansing is that we are so used to feeling what we think is hunger when in actual fact alot of the time it's just the body cleansing, flushing out toxins, detoxing. But we mistake those sensations as hunger, so eat solid foods, and stop the detoxing process. Every time.

On a side note, my no-dried-fruit-thing has been going really well. A week and a half now, and having seen my naturopath mid-week he was impressed with how well I was doing. Candida much better. Tongue much clearer. I've been on different herbs for a while so of course they're making their mark, but I intuitivley knew the absence of dried fruit over the week would make a huge difference, and it did :)


And now my JUICING will be making things even better! That's a pic of brekkie this morn - beetroot, couple carrots, head of celery, couple of little apples, ginger and lemon. Cheers!

No direction can lead to clear direction

So I seem to be keeping myself awake at night wondering what to blog about next.
Sounds stupid right? It's the perfectionist in me wanting to have a little plan of action - juices next week, raw treats after that, then my buckwheat cereal recipe... store bought raw bars versus making them at home... the list goes on. Yet when I want to sit down to blog none of what I had "planned" seems to sit well with wherever I am in that moment.

And so, right now, I've got half an hour before I'm out the door to see a client, and I want to blog. Do I have something to blog about? Well no, but you're reading this so in a way, Yes.


I've been reading more and more on cleansing, fasting, juicing and colon hydrotherapy of late - all of which I LOVE and feel AMAZING when practicing so I'm really looking forward to incorporating more into my life in the next few weeks. They're all something I want to work with more down the track, understand and know upside down and back to front, so I can educate others on what I have such passion for.

I know when the time is right to do these again as I begin to get a sense of FUZZINESS; murky thoughts, emotional weaknesses. I see negative changes in my physical body and appearance, experience cravings for processed foods and start feeling BLAH. You know that one right - BLAH - a combination of yucky, heavy, confused, muddled, far from clear-headed and clear-bodied, slow, dry... I could go on.

And that's how I've been feeling lately. I haven't been looking after myself. I haven't been eating the way that makes me feel my best. I havn't been eating much at all in fact, I havn't been as hungry. But then other times I know I'm eating more than my body needs. Past the point of hunger. And my exercise routine has taken a step back as well due to more work. So all in all, I am not functionally at my optimal. But now I vow to change it all back to where it is at a level that makes me feel MY ABSOLUTE BEST!

So I'm in the process of planning to do a week long JUICE FEAST followed by a gallbladder cleanse and of course, another session with my colon hydrotherapist. Just the preparation for it all gets me EXCITED and BOUNCING about knowing how GREAT I'll be feeling very soon.

And I would like to let you all know that CLEANSING, FASTING, JUICING and DETOXING will no doubt feature more and more on my blog, but I will of course continue filling you in on my RAW culinarty creations, KITCHEN FUN and be sure to throw a few RECIPES at you every now and then.

But right now, I must jet.

Green love and white light to you all :)

I'm up. Now what?

Breakfast for me has always been my FAVOURITE meal of the day. As a kid I'd tuck into cereal or toast with vegemite. In high school I went through a banana smoothie phase where I couldn't seem to get enough. Travelling overseas I looked forward to food regardless of what it was! And now my tastes are changing again.


When I first went RAW I was eating fruit of course. I'd have a few pieces cut up like a fruit salad. Then as my stomach got used to it I found I could eat alot more. And further on I grew accustomed to a MONO meal of fruit for breakfast, finding this easier on my digestion first thing. And with that, brekkie was more often that not 8 or 9 bananas straight up, half a red papaya, or 3-4 mangoes in Summer (Oh my God the memories...DROOL). Then I got hooked on throwing bananas in the blender and adding a bunch of yummy things to BOOST me up ready for the day!

Most recently I've been having juice - GREEN JUICE. I've spoken about the benefits of JUICING here before so I wont go into it again, but I will say that over time our tastes change as do our emotions, circumstances, schedules, and the weather.

And so here we are now in Winter down under in the Southern Hemishpere, and each morning I find myself struggling to decide what I feel like. For whatever reasons they might be, I'm finding that of late I'm not hungry for my usual favourite meal of the day!

However, I wanted to suggest a bunch of ideas that I like to have for brekkie as a RAW-ie to add some inspiration to your day, and some excitement to your next breakfast! Some of my fav's are:

Raw buckwheat or oat groat porridge with all my favourites mixed in and added ontop for an easy filling comfort-food-winter nomnom.


or a quick "run-out-the-door" version, and one for later on


A quick and easy miso soup with some seaweed. Great on the mornings I've gotta be up real early, out the door pretty quick, and it's FREEZING.


Banana bowls... ...or a variation of them


Superfood smoothies


Nut milk Smoothies - this one is with cacao and bananas


Or just plain simple tasty nut milk...


...which would be great alongside some raw bread with nut butters or tahini


Another tasty treat (if advance preparation has been thought of and done of course) is gRAWnola


so so good :) crunchy. chewy. like toasted muesli. a good jaw workout this one


And for those special occasions...

Blueberry Flax pancakes drizzled with agave


Cardamon Flaxjacks with fresh fruit



What's your favourite breakfast yumminess?

Get ya juice on!!

In the past I've been more of a smoothie girl. I had read about all the benefits of JUICING but I still couldn't get into it (only when one's really ready right?). Well my time has come! I've been JUICING everyday for the past week or so and I CAN'T GET ENOUGH! I'm LOVING IT!!

So now that I'm a convert, I'll preach a bit :)

JUICING, obviously, is not the same as BLENDING (I get that now). Don't hear me wrong - blending is still a FANTASTIC addition to anyones diet, but is not a replacement for juicing. WHY? Because juiced foods have all the fibre and solids removed making it EXPONENTIALLY easier for your body to absorb all the nutrients - with maximum speed and efficiency, and minimum effort from the digestive system! Every bit of nourishment can then be used to REGENERATE rather than digest (and for those of us that are on a journey to learn all about our digestion issues, and to help them function better - JUICES ARE A GOD SEND).


But be warned about that beer-like frothy head!! Ideally, you don't want this. I strain my juice, strain again, and strain again, then pour it into a big tall glass (and a little extra one) ready to drink. I do this so my LIQUID VEGIE JUICE is as LIQUID as it can be. Sounds ridiculous hey? Well here's the scoop; that frothy head is SOLID in comparison to what's beneath it. To drink juices that still have the pulp present would be MORE taxing on your digestion than it would be to eat and properly chew all those fruits and vegies in their solid form. And then you're in for digestion upsets! If there is ANY fibre present in your 'meal' (think smoothies), chewing is necessary to prepare the stomach for digestion (I'm sure you all know someone who doesn't chew their food well enough and wonders why they always have tummy troubles).
Heard the line "drink your food, chew your juice" ... a rather odd one in my opinion anyway, haha, but I get where they're going with it.

You want the purest VITAMIN - MINERAL - RICH - ELIXIR you can get!

(Beetroot obviously...then... lemon, ginger, loads of greens... I can't remember what else!)

On a RAW FOOD DIET, juicing is extremley important in order to get sufficient nutrients; they're like the missing puzzle pieces.
Even if you're a meat eater, green vegie juices will do you wonders! Try drinking a green vegie juice before your meaty meal. By lowering your body's pH from a more acidic state to a more alkaline state, green juices will conteract the acidic animal protein and put your body back into balance. Beautiful! (and you might find you want meat less... well there's my little wish anyway)

GREEN JUICES ARE A BEAUTY SECRET says Matt Monarch. I truley believe this now. I feel FANTASTIC, my acne is clearer, my eyes are brighter... I'm a juicing groupie. Loud and PROUD.

(This one had 3 small apples, 3 carrots, 1/2 lemon, a big chunk of ginger, 6-8 big Chinese broccoli leaves, and 3-4 stems of celery - leaves and all)

The benefits of JUICING could easily fill a book (and there's loads of proof already out there). I did go into a little detail with you guys (as I'm a brand new groupie with so much excitement around this topic!!), but to be as straight to the point as I can be;

TRY IT YOURSELF!

For me - it's cause and effect. I didn't need to know all the scientific research stats - I did know them and that still didn't start me juicing until now. But I tried it. I only had to try it. I put it to you also - try a VEGIE JUICE everyday for a week and get back to me on how you feel :)

As for what you can do with all that left-over fibre rich juice pulp... you'll have to wait til the next post ;)