From Juicy to Healthy!

So Eduardo has been out of town for 3 weeks now, he went to a composition Encounter in Spain, then he spent a couple of weeks with my dad near Sevilla, then he moved on to another workshop in Doncaster, close to Manchester, where I presume he is now. Raw and travel has always been interesting to me, it is always and adventure trying to figure out the next meal. It will be very interesting to share his experience when he comes back. I assume Spain is easier than the UK, but he will be a better narrator to that sometime next week.

So what is a girl to do in the summer in the absence of her other half??? hmmmm actually I have felt pretty whole, I love that. I have had a house full of visiting cousins and plenty to do. Last week I went to the desert and had an amazing experience that reminds me that there is only so much health that raw foods can give us. A lot of our (my) health has to do with mind and heart. Or maybe it is the next step in the journey, to start to heal more subtle energies, which seem to need a special, different kind of healing. The work I did there is all about minding my thoughts. This place is called "The Mistery" and the people who live there are deep into the yoga and meditation lifestyle, many people go there to heal so they have so much experience understanding people and their energy, they are very sensitive. So I felt very aware of my thoughts all the time, that´s probably part of my healing, but I did also feel self-conscious and troubled by the restlessness of my mind. I found many of my thoughts to be very childish, I have much work to do. But also I found this all to be very freeing, like I could from that moment on just let myself be softer.

I noticed that all the accumulated knowledge had made me be tough on myself, trying to be affirmative and accepting of what comes has to be based on further practices, not just theory. My body is detoxed enough, now I need to make it strong and flexible. I need my mind to be focused and clutter-free. I am now flowing into a softer space, where awareness of my weaknesses is more important than just longing for more enlightened states but not taking them to practice. I was told I need to work on anger and agressiveness issues.... whaaa??? meeee???? no waaay!!!! well I was made to see this up front and I found that I do have an edge, I tend to sarcasm and other uglies. I didn´t see that before. Just being aware of it is a big step in working through it. I have some sadness to work through too (wow this post is suddenly feeling heavy with too much info). But it is true, and I feel obliged to truth now, it is so much easier to just be softer and flow. I came back from this retreat feeling my heart so open and abundant with love.

I have been doing a lot for the healing of my body, now I also start the healing of my energy and of my heart. After all I think I had never before stopped to see why did I gain all the weight in the first place? What was I hiding from under all that toxicity? What have I been hiding from behind the labels "smart and spiritual" (with no further practice than that of my nutrition)? And I don´t mean to be analytic of my past, but instead just aware of what arises in the present... what triggers cause me to act out, with food or otherwise? I am back to being an explorer, a scientist of me with a lighter heart and a flowing disposition to be real.

Day 93 BREAKFEAST

Our breakfeast in Chipinque after some walking and foraging!
We are back to eating solids.... ahhhh they taste good too!

Day 83

Day 83 is going fine! I am having a relaxed day and am enjoying it. It is quite a warm afternoon in the north of México, it has been a warm week... yet Eduardo and I haven´t felt it as much as the rest, I think it is because of slower metabolism due to just juicing. I´m glad because I really really prefer not to turn on the AC... ever... which is odd given where I live, also interesting I don´t like cold water for drinking either.

Anyway, the last few days I myself have been running hot an cold I have had days of just wanting to start eating, knowing that I won´t- having come so far in the journey, and some days of being just plain happy about juicing and not picturing myself eating solids anytime soon. Pendular, pendular it goes around here lately.

I feel kind of guilty of not making the most these 92 days, having not medidated, not done chanca piedra and other such things. I don´t know if/when I will do this again for this long and I have a little naggy feeling that I could have done better. I have done some yoga, some walking, lots of wanting to buy a rebounder soon.

Then I cut myself some slack, I have juiced A LOT. I was making sandwiches for a friend yesterday and I made a pretty high stack of tomato slices, cucumber, spinach, sprouts and sunflowerseed cheese, avocado, a pretty wholesome big sandwich and all I could think is... "wow that is such a small amount of food, not even a whole tomato, only 5 spinach leaves?!?!" I mean one of my juices is one head of celery, one buch of cilantro, one pound of tomatoes, one whole cucumber, plus the basil and garlic... I have juiced a LOT of food, every day. The fruit plate on my table holds quite an amouunt of varied beauties, pineapple and mango, and canteloupe, kiwis, apples, citrus and it is just enough for two or three days. I have been a good juicer, a good juicefeaster. I can see how some of it is just nonsense in my head.

I haven´t weighed in for a few weeks, but I do know I had to punch an extra hole in my belt to hold my jeans up. I feel great weight-wise so I guess I don´t check in anymore.

83 x 120/365=27.2... this means I am reverting the damage done in 27 years by now... almost reborn!

Day 74

This is the painting I finished last week, I had a nice juicy and creative flow with this one and I enjoyed it a lot. Right now I have commissions for 4 more (for just one house!!) and 2 more pending... ahhhh to be flowing is so great!

The juicing is going great, I have been drinking less than 4 qts, but it has been totally fine, I didn´t weigh in this week but I feel I haven´t lost much weight in the last week, I feel just stable and level and ok. I have been loving orange+peach juice, Eduardo is loving it too. And yesterday I made a celery+galric+ginger+lemon juice so savory and tasty and when I do it again today I will use less garlic.

Loving this. day 74 already. Already having fantasies of all the gorgeous salads that I will eat after the feast, I made the decision to stop eating nuts regularly at least, maybe for parties or weekends, but definetely not daily anymore. After the feast, nuts only rarely, and seeds, well flax and hemp mostly and sunflower and pumpkin scarcely too. I will be fresh!

Day 60 was creative

So this juicing thing actually gives me time to focus a lot on painting which is one amazing job!!! I am enjoying the energy so much! And I can get a lot done in one day, so this weekend I will deliver this painting I am working on, it is ten feet wide and I am loving the process. I will make sure to upload the whole thing when it is finished. I usually don´t do much figurative stuff, but this one I am loving intensely!

Today only 2 quarts of juice though.
Must.Drink.More.Juice.

Day 54 + the coolest class! (no heat involved)

I had an amazing experience teaching my first Raw Foods class this past saturday, I loved it.
A long time ago I took a Quiromancy class (how to read the hands) and it turns out I have rare marks in the form of a stick figure person on both hands, the teacher said those are educator or teacher marks, I found that so odd because teaching has never been my thing, I don´t like public speaking so much, one on one speaking I love, but to more than one, not so much. So It feels good to have figured out those lines in my hands! I can teach raw foods! Every ingredient gave me a story to tell; cayenne pepper, nutmeg, mushrooms, garlic, avocado, I was so excited to share all this info gathered in the past year, of course stuff about enzymes and alkaline/acid balance.

Carrots is the name of the little health store where the class was held, it is a great place and they hold lots of healthy cooking classes, so now we are also sharing the option of not cooking, just healthy eating! The people who came to the class were mostly vegetarians, or close to that, so already health conscious and very knowledgeable, my friend Ben says I´m a next level facilitator. And It all rolled easily. I fact I am very happy that two of the attendants contacted me later interested in juice feasting! This was such a pleasant surprise!

I chose simple recipes that I had tried before and loved because since I am juice feasting I wouldn´t be able to test and taste there. Instead of a salad we made jamaican style kebabs, an avocado/celery soup with a chipotle swirl, then marinated portobello steaks with white mushroom gravy (this recipe I loved so much we had it at my sister´s wedding last year) and a black cherry cobbler for dessert. All turned out great. Or so I heard.

My friend Ana helped me so much, she is transitioning and eats raw vegan all week and though she still gives herself the weekends off, little by little is walking away from weekend meats, I´m so proud of her! In fact 3 of the people in the class own a vitamix, one of them even a dehydrator, I have found my community which is what it is all about! Seriously non of them looked the least bit shocked about the 92 day juicing thing opposed to the Average Juan around this premises.

It´s a great feeling, I can´t wait for the next one scheduled for next month!

Day 39

Wow tomorrow will be day 40!!! I honestly never thought I had it in me to do something like this, for so long at least. One year ago we did the master cleanse for 10 days and this is very much NOT the same.

Most days I have struggled with having the whole gallon of juice, but I always feel better when I do.
The weather is getting very hot now a days, so we must always make a point to have ice to carry the juices around.
I have also been feeling different, definetely feeling younger and by now we have dropped a lot of weight, I started this with 74 kilos and now I am 67 kilos, (as of last week). That is the weight I was when I was 18 and very athletic. I have been slacking a little on the exercise only walking and doing yoga now and then... I feel that my progress would be greatly increased if I get that going well. My skin feels and looks better than when we started the juicefeast, And soooooooo much better than it was one year ago before I went raw.

I am also currently reading A New Earth, my little sis gave it to me on my birthday, and I am loving all the clarity it brings, Eckhart Tolle has a great gift to make all these profound truths so accesible and I am drinking up every word... and feeling joy in just being. I have been surounded by friends lately, and I used to be more on the hiding side just a few months ago, so I love this, my life, my energy has shifted to a nicer state of being. Some synchronicities are showing up so I follow up on them. Simple stuff like I got twice the prints I ordered for a poster for my first RawFood class I am giving, the printer made a mistake and they gave me the extra prints for free. Hey! maybe the Universe wants more rawfoodies among the north of Mexico! I also met a foodie who lives here at an event... this is huge for me to have some sense of community, today I contacted another family who eats raw around here and I am looking forward to meeting them soon! How cool is that?!?!?!

Well all for toay and promise to make this more often!