The Transition Movement Thursday Jan. 29th 2009

Speaking of Detroit Evolution, there is a really cool event going on this Thursday that I thought I'd let you guys know about also! Please RSVP to them though, it seems like a lot of people are going. Their contact info is at: http://detroitevolution.com/

This Thursday
7:30 - 9:30pm at the Lab
What is the Transition Movement?
Please attend this vital and inspiring evening with Michael Brownlee and Lynette Hanthorn of Transition Boulder. The Lab has aligned it's mission with this relocalization movement designed to meet the challenges of peak oil & climate change by growing sustainability and community resilience. Michael & Lynette are visiting to conduct Michigan's 1st Transition Training in A2 & graciously offered to arrive early and share with Detroit. [More on Transition]

Got High Fructose? More like Mercury!

Thanks to Detroit Evolution Lab for pointing this article out to me about High Fructose having mercury in it!

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20090127/mercury-in-high-fructose-corn-syrup?src=RSS_PUBLIC

I just had to pass it along!

Day 9 Raw-Red Pepper Deli Northville, MI

Soo not much to report today other than that I woke up feeling like I was going to puke! Definitely detox from the MMS Miracle. I decided to not do it today! lol Giving myself a break from it! That was not a fun way to wake up! Although thankfully I did not actually throw up. On the plus side, I still weigh 7 lbs less today, and I had the most amazing sandwich from Red Pepper Deli! I had the Redwich I bought yesterday. Oh man..sooo good! I loved the dehydrated bread, and the cashew butter. I wasn't too excited about it because I don't really like red peppers, but this was so good. It just worked for some reason for me. I also had a smoothie I made, and the raw sunny love pate from Zerbos. Oh, and a raw coconut date ball from zerbo's. I really don't feel hungry, although for the first time today I felt a little down and craving regular foods. I think maybe it was because I didn't do the MMS. My Mom got a book from Zerbo's (God helps those who help themselves) and it said something about how to do muscle testing. Basically, that tells you if what you are taking is good for you. It sounds a bit crazy to me, but I want to give it a try. Why not? I haven't read all the details yet, but you hold whatever vitamin or supplement you are taking and someone tries to push on your arms. If they can't be moved, than I guess what you are taking is good for you. I think I may have to stop taking so many things, because I can't hold them all in one hand at once! But I love them all! lol Oh, well. I need to learn more about this "muscle testing" business. lol

Raw Days 6-8

No, dear readers, I have not failed to update because I have stopped eating raw foods! I have just been busy! No, I'm happy to report that I have not backslid at all, even when at a regular restaurant I was pretty good! Saturday I went to Magdalenas Tea House in Lansing. I will write a separate blog about that! I saw Defiance too, what a great movie! Kind of long and depressing at times, but overall, a good message about not losing your humanity when you are being treated unfairly. I really enjoyed it. I didn't eat much that day because I was busy. Just had a smoothie, and than ate a lot at the raw food restaurant. Than Sunday I went to Zerbo's after I made a smoothie at home, and bought another gnostic chocolate bar to keep me from splurging at the auto show when I got hungry. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to Zerbo's again before they closed since it was Sunday, and I would be forced to go out to eat in downtown Detroit after the auto show. Sooo, that would be a long time with no food! So I bought a salad and raw sandwich (no bread, just lettuce) at Zerbo's so I would have food later. At Fishbones in Detroit I just had sushi, and water! The rice was probably the worst thing I had. One roll was cucumber and avocado and the other was salmon. Only, I thought it was salmon MEAT not EGGS. I figured I am not eating meat right now, and I really don't know what I'm doing to make sure I'm getting enough protein, so having fish while I'm out once wouldn't throw my raw food trial off. Turns out it was EGGS. Salmon EGGS. Eww. I even asked the waitress what it was first, and she did not say it was eggs. So, Salmon Roe apparently means Salmon eggs. I hated how they burst into my mouth with each bite. ugh. I think I'll stick with fruits and vegetables. So gross! But the rest of the food was good. I wasn't even tempted to eat the normal food at the table. In fact, it seemed like poison to me since I felt SO GOOD! I woke up early, and was in the best mood all day! How could I eat rolls and bread with butter after feeling so good?! I watched as the person I went to the auto show with had to drink coffee with all kinds of sugar and cream to wake up-and I was soo wide awake without anything! That was inspiration enough to keep me from eating bad food. The gnostic chocolate bar also kept me from being tempted at the auto show! Thank goodness for that chocolate! Although later on that night when my friend was eating leftovers it did smell good!I had my salad from earlier at Zerbo's though, and the cravings went away. I think the key to raw food is to ALWAYS be prepared with GOOD raw food so you won't be tempted. It's tough to plan ahead like that, but well worth the extra effort! Today I went to Red Pepper Deli in Northville and got the raw taco with guacomole. I will be trying the redwich sandwich later on tonight. I was in such a good mood today and in 8 days I have lost SEVEN LBS!!!!

Day 5 Raw-Down 6 lbs!

Yeah, that's right. I have lost six lbs. already! Wow. I feel great too. This was the second day I couldn't sleep in past 7 hours. It's actually day 6 now, but I am just posting about day 5.I was just ready to wake up! I had the left overs from Red Pepper Deli, and a smoothie. The salad from Red Pepper was pretty good-it was actually kind of like a salad-spaghetti! lol It was some kind of zuchinni cut into spaghetti noodles, and cucumbers, and other things. Not sure how to describe it really, but it was good. I did get a bit of a headache and had a hard time concentrating, but I think that's just caffeine withdrawals. Although I have added a little bit of raw cacao into my smoothies for caffeine. I got tired really early though, and almost fell asleep on the couch at 9pm! When I forced myself to get up and go out though, I had a lot of energy again and stayed awake until 3am. I did sneak an organic, but not raw, cookie. It was really small so I figured it wouldn't hurt. It tasted really gross though, and I had some cashews instead. I was really proud of myself when I went out too-all I had was water, and I didn't get any taco bell afterwards! Usually when I go out, or stay up late I want some disgusting fast food. It's just a bad habit when I stay out late. But, I didn't really want it this time, and I slept really good. No feeling gross the next morning for me!!

Raw Food and Relationships

Ah, so relevant to my life right now and thought I'd share. I am sure anyone trying to do raw food can benefit from this:

Food, Relationships and Acceptance from Dhrumil Purohit on Vimeo.

Jason Mraz-Raw Foodist!

I just discovered Jason Mraz's blog (http://freshnessfactorfivethousand.blogspot.com/) and I just have to say he seems to think just like me! (sorry Jason, haha) I know people probably say this about celebrities- oh, he is the perfect guy for me, or they get all star struck and think everything they write is perfect because they are famous! I'm not saying that AT ALL because I don't really know him just from reading a few blogs. I don't get star struck-I just admire talent when I see it(sadly, my musical ability is not JUST like his lol I wish it was that good!)-but I know they are still humans! lol I just really agreed with everything he said. He even said in one post that he is just you in another situation. Hmm. Get out of my head, Jason Mraz! He is also a raw foodist! Bonus! It's kinda funny how when a celebrity goes raw, it's ok, but when regular people do it it's "extreme." I'm sure there are some people who think he is crazy for it, but fan's always think the person they are obsessed with can do no wrong. I'm not saying you should think raw food is extreme, but if you did, don't go changing your mind just because a celebrity does it. In other words, I know he is very talented with music-but don't just blindly follow him. Think for yourself, people!! lol But, on the same side, if his celebrity will help get the word out about raw foods, than that really is great, so I am not upset! I just don't like when people blindly follow someone! I think his song, "I'm Yours," should be the raw food theme song! When you are eating raw foods you seriously just want to the hug the world! It's actually pretty obnoxious if you aren't feeling good lol

Day 4 and Red Pepper Deli in Northville

Ok, so it's actually day 5 but I didn't get a chance to update yesterday! I was still down three lbs yesterday. Yay. Kind of happy I didn't lose more. I don't want to lose weight TOO quickly, or too much. I also was unable to sleep in! After 8 hours my body wanted to get up and moving! I'm not sure if it's from the raw food or the MMS miracle, or maybe it's both, but I'm not complaining! (usually on raw foods I feel tired-but I must be doing something right this time) My mom and I were going to try a raw food recipe from my new book but she felt the same way I did. Oh, that would be good but....I don't want to get those ingredients. Oh, a dehydrator? Forget it! lol I think she had to go take a nap after reading through the books. So, I feel good it's not just me. And I think after FOUR attempts at going raw, I finally WANT to make the recipes and I'm not so intimidated by them. But, I decided not to make anything because we spent so much time going over recipes I barely had any time to even make anything, let alone go to the store and get the ingredients. So, I went to Red Pepper Deli in Northville, MI. (read my older blog post for directions and times: (http://michiganrawfoodblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/moving.html) I am SO glad I went. I haven't been in awhile because last time I did, I got into an argument with the person I was with. Mainly, because they didn't want to spend the money on "that kind of food."(which is crazy, because it's wonderful food-but some people just don't get raw food yet!) They were making a VERY embarassing scene about it, and I'm not one to sit by and tolerate when someone is acting like an idiot. Sigh. It was pretty bad. They were not rude to me at all, and didn't make me feel bad about the last experience. I hope it was different people, but if it wasn't and they remembered me, you couldn't tell. In fact, they treated me as if I was writing a story on their restaurant-but I don't think they knew who I was! Very helpful, and they made sure I loved the food! I would recommend the place just for the customer service! I ordered something that had bread on it, and the guy making it asked me if their raw bread was ok. I thought their raw bread meant sprouted bread, and I said I didn't want any bread. I was feeling kind of stupid for being picky at a raw food restaurant, but he didn't make me feel bad at all! Turns out it was dehydrated bread!! I was so excited they had dehydrated bread-and even MORE excited it tasted GOOD!! I also had to switch some of the dairy in the smoothie to almond milk. Again, I didn't even ask they asked me what I wanted just to make sure, and didn't even care how picky I was! This is one restaurant where a raw foodist does not have to feel like an outcast! lol On to to the fun part- I ordered a purple passion smoothie! It had raspberries, blueberries, coconut, almond milk, and maple syrup! So good! When I first drank out of it my tongue got stuck on the straw's suction (that sounds so bad lol) and I made a funny face. They asked me if everything was ok, and I had to reassure them that the smoothie was really good (despite my silly face lol) Than I took home a bunch of food so I wouldn't have to go back out again the next day. I got raw tacos for dinner. They were really good too! It was some kind of walnut meat and spices mix on lettuce wraps. Than I had a cheesecake that was, in my opinion, better than the real thing! For today I have a portabello mushroom sandwich. It's on dehydrated bread! I snuck a piece of the bread, and I'm happy to say it's very good (and I'm very picky about dehydrated breads!) I recommend if you get mushrooms you eat it that day though, because they go bad kind of quickly. Whoops. My mistake, not theirs! I got some nori rolls and a salad that I haven't tried yet, but I'll let you guys know how that is too today! I'm guessing if it's anything like their other food it will be good! I definitely recommend Red Pepper Deli! Oh, and another thing-they have all kinds of raw food books you can read while you wait for your food. I ended up spending around $46 for four entrees, and two pies. Not bad, considering all the food is made fresh and with really good, healthy ingredients! Not sure if it's all organic-I should ask next time I go!

Day 3 Raw-down THREE lbs!

That's right, you heard it! I woke up this morning and I weighed three lbs. less than when I started on day 1! Wow. I know it's probably just water weight, as it's not safe to lose more than l-2 lbs. a week (and thankfully so, or I'd weigh nothing in a short amount of time!) but it's still fun to see the weight going down each day-although I think a lot of the reasons I'm holding on to my excess weight is I actually secretly enjoy being out of my healthy weight range! Why? Because I like having boobs. There,I said it! I am naturally very skinny, and flat so when I gained weight I was really curvy for the first time in my life. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that curves are bad at all. But it's not my natural body weight, nor is it my HEALTHY body weight. My small boned frame really can't hold this excess weight, even though it doesn't look bad :( Sadly, I was not blessed to be curvy at a natural weight lol. But, it might be nice to go back to having brown hair and being flat again and having men talk to me like I'm not some stupid airhead! Ok,so they did that before sometimes, but with the blond hair and bigger boobs it seems they have more evidence for why they should act that way haha.I also woke up needing to blow my nose a lot, and to my dismay, my skin was broken out. I know that it will actually get better soon though, so I'll deal with it looking gross for a few days lol. I kept thinking all day, oh I should blog about this! I had to write notes! lol I guess when you actually try to eat raw foods, you have more to write about on your raw food blog ;) Funny how that works :P I did yoga, and rebounded. During the yoga my mind was all over the place, I couldn't concentrate at all! During one of the sets I had my arms up so long I thought I was going to cry too lol. It hurt so bad! But then I realized when I relaxed and stopped focusing on the pain, it was easier to hold my arms up ;) Isn't that true about life? When you just relax, and stop focusing on what is wrong, things get easier. So hard to do sometimes, yet so simple. I love yoga ;) I'm trying to get rid of my cable, but for some reason it's still working! They even came to the house to disconnect it...hope Comcast isn't reading this lol. But, seriously, I do find TV to be a huge waste of my time, and I'm looking forward to being without it. Think of all the other things I could do with my time? While I'm working or blogging I could be listening to music, or listening to something educational instead of watching another rerun of King of Queens! Another fun thing I did today, was I broke down and I tried the MMS miracle. I did some more research on it, and I think its been around long enough that it's safe. Not to mention I'm taking such a small dose, I fail to see how it's chemical make up can be any more harmful than any of the chemicals in regular processed food. I don't think it's a harmful substance though. We'll see I guess! While I was waiting for the chemicals to mix (felt like I was in science lab!) my mom said she smelled something burning. Well, like the genius that I am sometimes, I decided to smell the MMS to see if that was what it was! lol And this was after I said I think its safe, only one person died from it but that was from...you guessed it, inhaling it! And what do I do? I inhaled it! lol But luckily I didn't smell it that much, and caught myself and I don't think there was enough to damage me (only one tiny drop!) although some might debate if I'm damaged or not :) The MMS made me slightly dizzy right after I took it, but other than that I didn't notice anything. Guess we'll find out! I had a smoothie, and made a soup today out of celery, avocado, water, cucumber, and garlic. It was actually easier than I thought to eat raw today! It was funny because I told someone about my soup, all proud of myself for making an EASY raw food recipe and he said, wow that's sounds really complicated! lol I also had some raw coconut,raisin, date balls I got from Zerbos and some cashews. Oh, and I snuck a couple of deviled eggs my mom made for some company they had over, but it was only a little bit, so I don't think that's that bad. I'm not 100% raw or anything, I don't like labels like that, and eggs are a really good source of protein I think. I'm pretty sure they were organic also. I don't know if I blogged that I've been drinking raw milk, but I have been lately. I hate how the FDA only lets you sell it for animal consumption. If I want to risk getting sick I should be allowed to. It's like the seat belt laws. If I don't buckle a child up,I understand getting ticketed. But if I want to injure myself in an accident, that's my choice! Of course, we all know the FDA's rules on raw milk aren't to protect us though, but to protect them and make more money. So far, I have not gotten sick from raw milk. However, regular milk always makes me feel awful. Another thing I keep seeing people call raw foodists "extreme." I read posts talking about Steve Pavlina, and how their first clue he was losing it was when he did raw foods. Than I see on the news today a health practitioner calling raw foods "extreme." What is the big deal? If someone wants to eat raw foods, why do you care? I mean, yeah, it is extreme in the fact that it's tough because not a lot of other people do it. But isn't it extreme to eat processed food with chemicals, and genetically altered organisms too? Isn't it kind of extreme to eat the milk of a cow when you are a fully grown HUMAN? Or to eat sugar that isn't even in it's original form anymore? Or corn syrup? That's kinda weird too. Way more weird than raw foods! How strange-eating food in it's natural, God-given state and not screwing around with it! Ridiculous! We are humans, we need to mess it up and cook it and add butter and sugar! lol Regardless of whether you think it's strange or not, who cares? We aren't in junior high anymore people (well, most of us!) so why do we care if someone thinks like us or not? Get over yourself, really! The world would be so boring if we did everything alike, or if there weren't people brave enough to try new things. I do think society needs both-the ones who follow, and the ones who shake things up. There is nothing wrong if you are one of the followers, it would be anarchy if everyone was ground breaking like Steve Pavlina or raw foodists. But, we need both people. If you don't agree with it, just respect it. That's not so hard, is it?! On a happier note, I found myself really giggly today again lol. Ok, so I say LOL a lot anyways, but raw food is not helping. And I'm getting really good at manifesting stuff! I can't go into detail about that, but let's just say it's a very good thing ;) I'm also happy to note that I got an email today from the ACLU about some good changes that Obama enacted on day one. I don't get while they are so thrilled he is acting so quickly, as it's kind of standard protocol for a new president to come in and make changes right away, but nonetheless it's a good start! I'm still skeptical, but I'm thankful for all the people putting out the positive, hopeful vibes. Again, we need both types of people. Skeptics to weed out the fake things, and positive, trusting people so we aren't well, a bunch of skeptics ('cuz thats really not a lot of fun!) You can thank Obama at https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1213&s_src=email0121&JServSessionIdr006=jx4agci7j1.app26a

I really do believe it's up to the people, not the president, or elected officials, to ultimately make the rules in this country. So, yeah, I think if enough of us send letters like that, they DO pay attention. And if they don't, than it's time to turn over the whole system. We, as Americans, need to be more involved and let our voice be heard. While the President does have more authority than us, he really is truly only a spokesperson for what the people want.

Phew, ok, I'm done blogging! lol

Fox 2 Detroit Producer going Raw for 30 days!

Fox 2 Detroit is doing a lot on raw foods. I already posted about Lila Lazarus going raw (sorry the link was broken, I just updated it today) in a previous blog, but I guess her producer is also doing raw foods! I worked in TV news for 3 years, and if ANYBODY needs to detox, it's definitely them! lol Here is the link to her blog:

http://community.myfoxdetroit.com/blogs/Sean_Lee/2009/01/13/Going_Raw_for_30_Days

Day 2 Raw and down .06 lbs!

What an exciting day for America, with the inauguration! I wish I could share in the excitement and believe in Obama, but the skeptic in me keeps saying I'll be believe it when I see it! I feel like a jilted lover when it comes to politics right now. If they want my trust, they'll need to earn it. BIG TIME.

Moving on...day two of my raw food trial went pretty good! I did not cheat at all. I did, however, sleep in. Well,no, I woke up early but laid in bed for two hours half awake,and half asleep. Does that count? lol I love that half asleep phase. I can lucid dream sometimes in that state. Which is, AMAZING. Way better than reality!

I weight .06 of a lb less already, and by the end of the day I was down 2 lbs! I love raw food, I lose weight so quickly on it!

My mom even said I looked skinnier today!

It helps that I worked out for 30 minutes on my rebounder and did yoga.

I got rid of my gym membership so I can just do yoga and the rebounder.

It's not that I have anything wrong with weights and the gym but I am more drawn to yoga right now. I feel like yoga not only works on my body, but my mind and spirit also. It's like three in one! ;)

Already I've noticed a change in my mood. I even started laughing more. It's amazing how quickly my body adapts to raw foods. Hopefully this time it will stick! ;)

I really love how I feel on it.


I discovered some cool new raw food products at Zerbo's, and spent way more money than I should. I will report on the other products I got besides gnosis chocolate, when I try them.

I ate the entire gnosis chocolate bar, so I didn't try the other ones yet lol.


I had a smoothie, and a raw food sandwich from zerbos. And lots of water! I do feel a bit hungry, but I'm just adjusting. I remember on raw foods I actually end up eating less food.

I'm only letting u know what I ate because I always wonder what raw foodist eat every day. The give it to me raw blog has a great blog series where they tell you what raw foodist eat. You can check out their blog in my blog roll on here.

I'm hoping that you guys will be here with me during my beginning and see me turn in to a real raw foodist :)

So, let's hope it sticks this time and I stay with it :)

Day two down...rest of my life to go lol

Gnosis Chocolate

Sooo....I may have splurged a bit today. I was going to just get a smoothie and raw sandwich (instead of bread it had lettuce) at Zerbo's but while I was waiting I got distracted. They had all kinds of fun new raw food products (and a few of my favorites were sadly missing) that I had to try out! I figured it was research for my readers ;) That's how I justified spending the extra money. I also bought a book. I'll blog about that stuff later. I wanted a whole blog just for Gnosis Chocolate because I loved it so much! It was around $7 and uhhh, I ate the whole thing in one day. So, I will admit for the quality of the product $7 isn't bad...but when you are broke, it's kind of tough! BUT that being said, it was SOO good. I have tried raw chocolate bars and have not been impressed before. In fact, most of them I end up mashing up and blending with other stuff because I can't stand the taste of raw cacao. This was different though. It was really, really, really good! It's in the refrigerated section at Zerbo's, and if you can't make it to Livonia, MI you can order it online at: http://gnosischocolate.squarespace.com/


OH, and to me the packaging and how the food is put together is important. I really like the box it comes in, and it's all natural. 10% of the profits go to the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (www.FTPF.org) and it has fun information on the ingredients.


This is definitely an indulgence I will be treating myself to more often ;)

Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Free Press did an internet article about raw food resources in Michigan and I thought I'd repost it because it has a lot of good info. in one spot! I'm glad people are starting to really pay more attention to raw foods in Michigan! (and no, I don't think it's because of me lol) I think this means I may need to start updating my event calendar more....:)

http://freep.com/article/20090114/ENT08/901140386/1035/rss04

Day 1 done...phew...

I had all kinds of things I wanted to write about and now I can't remember any of it! Oh, well I guess! I made it through day one of going back to raw foods! I did pretty good too! I snuck a piece of chicken but that was because I didn't really plan this out too well. I forgot I couldn't go to the bank to cash my check, so I didn't have much food to eat. So, I don't really consider that cheating...I had to eat today! I made a smoothie this morning, and had a really good salad. I also had some cashews (I couldn't wait to soak them! again, poor planning!) and I was craving something sweet and after one bite of a date the craving was gone! It was almost too sweet! I also woke up an hour earlier, worked out and did yoga :) SO, today was pretty good. I feel good also, but getting tired at 11:50pm! I guess that's good because I want to wake up even earlier tomorrow. I tried to write a list of comfort foods and find raw food counterparts....but I got a little frustrated. All of the recipes had SO many ingredients and looked kinda complicated. It just seems like too much work. If I have to make my food, I don't want to have to go to the grocery store every time for some elusive ingredient I don't have! I guess eventually I'll get the hang of this, and will just know how much to buy in advance? Right? RIGHT? Ugh. I hope so!

Picking myself back up!

I've been feeling really down on myself for giving up my good habits that I had. It seems like 2-3 months is the longest I can stick with eating mostly raw foods, and exercising. It didn't used to be like this! When I was 22, I worked out all the time and I LOVED it. It wasn't an obsession, it was just something I enjoyed doing. I LIKED feeling good about myself. I was so ambitious, and so motivated. But over the years, with dreams that didn't come true despite a 4.0, what I THOUGHT was a good work ethic, awards, traveling for work, interviewing celebrities...I have become somewhat disillusioned. It just seems like WHY BOTHER? It all seems so...pointless. I know I have blogged about this before, and I hate to sound pessimistic because I'm really not. I'm just a very logical person by nature. I know this confuses a lot of people because well, I'm a woman and very much so ;) I can be very emotional too! (one of the benefits of raw foods is it helps stabilize this tendency a bit!) I'm not saying all women are emotional, but we do have a few more natural hormones usually that make them harder to contain :) Ok, if I haven't annoyed anyone yet (and I really don't care) my point is, I have decided to stop feeling bad about my giving up recently and once again start over! I got a surprise check in the mail, and while I should use it for something practical like paying off bills, all of the money is going towards eating raw food for the next 15 days. I am also going to stop sleeping in, and get up early. Even though I still get a lot done sleeping in (I just stay up later) I feel like I need to get LESS sleep because there is so much I want to do! I have managed to write my very first stand-up act! :) I just need to practice. I have also attempted MANY times to write a book, but always end up getting distracted and abandon it. My whole life, teachers have been telling me that I should write. Yet, I never thought I could make a career out it. I guess I won't know until I try, right? Because getting the respectable degree and working the 9-5 thing didn't exactly work out either. What do I have to lose?! So, starting tomorrow I'm going back to eating raw food. I don't know about the waking up early thing as it's already 3am (whoops) but I will start with one hour earlier than I normally wake up, and go from there!I am also going to make a list of comfort foods, and their raw counterparts so I won't backslide. I am also going to do a LOT of emotional freedom technique (www.tapping.com) and also some techniques to deal with bad emotions. I need to find a way to deal with bad things that does NOT include food! I wasn't going to post about this until tomorrow, but I came across this video tonight on someone else's blog and it just seemed like a sign I'm in the right direction. I hope it inspires you as much as it does me!

Free stuff!

Shazzie, an amazing raw foodist, is turning 40 and she set up a page full of wonderful freebies and raw food contests you can sign up for! It's really amazing. You can check it out at:
http://shazzie.com/40.shtml


Shazzie was one of the first raw foodists websites that I found that inspired me.

Happy Birthday Shazzie. Keep doing what you do! :)

Vote for DEMF Design...

I don't even talk to this person anymore, but I saw this and thought I would pass it along, because honestly, he's a really great guy and good at designing things.

And I just feel like being nice. So vote if you like it :)

Extra money

I know it probably seems pointless, but when I'm working online I like to do sites like mylot and neobux. It's just fun, easy extra money. If you want to sign up, these are my referral links and a short description:

1. Neobux

So easy. All you do is click on links for a few seconds. Can't go wrong with that!


2. Weegy
www.weegy.com?r=57069673

You get paid .20 to answer questions! It's really slow, but it's good to have up while you are doing other stuff online. Leave your volume up because it will "ding" when you get a new question to answer.

3. MyLot

http://www.mylot.com/?ref=michiganrawfood
This is easy and fun. You just answer discussions, or you can start your own! Sometimes I even learn something new!


So, happy time wasting and making some extra money :)

Emotional Eating

Ok, so I have not been eating healthy for awhile. That is the bad news. The good news is I think I at least know my triggers now. Ever since I ate raw I realized I AM an emotional eater. You don't think you are until you take away your comfort foods. That is one of the reasons I think many people fail at raw foods. It takes away foods you are familiar with. For instance, I got into an argument with someone recently who refused to admit that Milk could have any negatives to it. I think he was just so attached to milk, that he couldn't comprehend it could be bad. How could something that was such an important part of his diet be BAD?

My point is, even if you don't think you are an emotional eater, you may be surprised how much you are one if you tried eating raw foods.

So I knew I was one, but didn't know how to fix it until I started realizing WHAT caused me to emotional eat. That may seem simple, but it's such an automatic thing, it can take awhile to figure out what your triggers are. I'm going to treat this like Migraines. My triggers for those were I had to have all three scenarios: tired, hungry, and stressed. If all three were there, watch out! I would have a killer migraine that made me nauseous and throw up. If only one of those things were fixed (i.e. I could take a nap, or eat some food) than the Migraine would go away.

So, if I can avoid, or learn to fix my emotional triggers for going back to bad foods, than maybe I can stop this yo-yo eating habit mess (eating healthy, than binging on junk) that I have been doing.

I'm not going to share with you what they are because I don't want people knowing that personal of info. about me, but I just wanted to share this break through.


Some of the things I'm going to try are using emotional freedom techniques (www.tapping.com is great) and yoga. (google Yogi Jim)

I have to be more disciplined with doing these things, and I think the reason I haven't is I didn't know what my triggers were. I thought just having a bad day was a reason, but it's so much more than that. There are very specific things that cause me to overeat.


I suggest if you are struggling with this also, that you really pay attention to any patterns you see.

Sorry if this was a bit jumbled but I'm doing about five things as I type this :)

It's Raw-Licious!

I'm not sure why the link wasn't working before, but there is a new website for a raw foodist here in Michigan. To access the correct website link you can read the post at:
http://michiganrawfoodblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/its-raw-licious.html

Lila from Channel 4 Detroit going raw for 30 days!

Lila Lazurus from Fox 2 Detroit is going raw for 30 days!

She interviewed Detroit Evolution Lab


and you can see that here: Detroit Evolution and Channel 4

To check out Lila's blog you can go to: http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=6D8F10B8A12B9FE4EB69A8324D663B9E?contentId=8201259&version=11&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

It's Raw-Licious!

Lauren Guastellla has a new website http://www.itsraw.net/


She is a Michigan Raw Foodist who offers raw food classes, dietary consultations, seminars and workshops, and catering!

Be sure to check out the services she offers and read about her inspirational journey with raw foods!

Leptin

I hope everyone had a great holiday! Mine was a bit stressful, but there were moments of fun in there also! My Great Uncle is not doing so well, and refused any medical help at the Hospice, so we are just waiting right now for him to pass. It's sad, and has made me kinda want to eat unhealthy and be cranky, but I know it's for the best. His quality of life is not so good right now, and I do want him to be happy! My Dad is doing really good, and I credit his beating the infection so quickly with all of the healthy food my mom and I have made him try! ;)

Anyways, I was watching tv and the show mentioned Leptin. Leptin helps you control and suppress your appetite. The funny thing is that the food that helps you with your leptin levels (and more is not better actually) by helping you process it better are fish, pulses (beans) and vegetables.

I just found it really interesting that by eating healthier foods, you will actually control your appetite.

I think the science behind this really confirms what I already have been saying-when I eat healthy, I am less hungry. When I eat less healthy, processed foods I am constantly hungry!

I always thought it was because I wasn't getting enough nutrients, but it's fun when science backs up what you already know. I guess the skeptic in my nature likes to have something to back things up!

Just thought I'd share!