Happy New Year! ;) UPDATE

I just completed 10 days of my silent retreat. It wasn't exactly silent. I did have a few calls from close friends & family that I chose to answer. Other than that, it was me, at home, in my bed on most days. I did do some very lite exercise & I did read plenty. I also worked on a few creative projects, because ideas kept popping in my head. I think my mind was clearer & it allowed ideas to flow. Another thing I did was fast. I drank only clean plain water, no food or drinks since December 22nd. This was much easier than I thought it would be. The plan was to be on my silent retreat & fast until January 1st. But it went by so fast, I want to extend it. I think what I will do is, do a modified silent retreat (some emailing & talking, but much less than usual) & fast. I will continue with water only until I feel like it's time to stop (there are also two signals that I will look for; pink tongue or hunger felt in the throat). Or, if it gets close to 21 days, that will be enough for me. I definitely won't go longer that that. No matter what's going on. I'll probably go to 14 days, and play each day by ear after that. 
So,.... I won't have any food to report until the 12th of January probably. (Which is my Birthday. -Yay!) But, if you want to see what I am up to until then, I'll be posting exercise (very lite exercise) on my 30Bananas-a-day thread. I will also be tweeting daily on Twitter. I won't start it until January 2nd. So check in then, and from that point forward, it will be a daily thing. There is also my weekly blog Sunday Is For Lovers. You can get the latest scoop on my week there. 
I'm looking forward to filling you in on the latest eats in 2010. I really enjoyed blogging all of my meals this year. It felt great & it reminded me of how much I love to eat fruits & veggies (mostly fruit though). This was my best year for many reasons, and I look forward to making 2010 even better! -Cheers!


*♥ *Wishing all of you an amazing, fun, healthy, creative, loving & blissful New Year. Lots of love & big hugs.*♥ *  XO! 

See You in 2010! Xo!

Hi Everybody! I'll be on my own silent meditation retreat for 2-3 weeks. Celebrating the new year in silence. Ahhhh... I can't wait. After that. I'm back to daily posting & lots of fruit! See you soon... -Xo!

Yesterday & the day before;

I had one full day of blended bananas & spinach. Nothing else. The day before that I had grapefruits, oranges & blended bananas. My energy was really good on both days. I always feel my best on simple fruits.

Today I ate;

Ahhhh.. it was a great food day. :) Persimmons, Tangerines & lots of Blended Bananas. That's it.

Today & Yesterday I ate;

Friday~
Grapefruit-orange (pulpy) juice
Canistels
Persimmons
Bananas
Plain tomato

Saturday~
Canistels
Persimmons
Bananas
Blended veggies with baby spinach
:) 

Yesterday I ate;

Grapefruit-orange (pulpy) juice
Canistels 
Black sapotes
Blended veggies with spinach (Mmm...spinach was yummy!)

I must say, blended baby spinach is really good & sweet. Today I had it with corn, cabbage & carrots. Blended into a creamy-like soup. You can also blend spouted lentils or garbanzos with veggies. Squash is another good one for blended soups. Scallions & fresh herbs can also give it a great flavor.

The canistels & black sapotes have been the highlights of my day! I find them really tasty & fun. Some don't fancy them that much, but I love them. They are rich & creamy dense fruits with lots of flavor, color & texture. If you want to have some shipped to you, call Taylor Snipes 772-532-0227 at Taylor's Tropicals. That is where mine are from. My friend ordered them from Taylor & was very happy with the service.

01/06/10 Update:
I'm getting ready to order some fruit from Taylor's Tropicals. He as a newsletter that he sends out. You can email him at TaylorSnipes@PathOfHealth.org to get on the email list. He also has a website, TaylorsTropicals.org, that will be up & running shortly. You will be able to order tropical fruits directly from there! I'll keep all of you posted on my order & list the fruits on the blog. I can't wait!

Today & Yesterday I ate;

Tuesday~
Grapefruits & oranges juiced (with lots of pulp)

Fuyu Persimmons
Mixed Veggies blended

Monday~

Grapefruits & oranges juiced (with lots of pulp)

Black sapotes-Fuyu Persimmons pureed

Mixed Veggies blended

Day seven of the mono meal week (that wasn't so mono) was yesterday. Today starts the liquid week that might not be all liquid. I think I will do squishy or juicy fruit eaten whole. I do like blended bananas, blended black sapotes, blended veggies, even blended citrus, but persimmons I like to eat as is I think. So this week might have some whole persimmons, maybe canistels too, but the rest of the week should be pretty liquid over all. Good news is; I'm seeing progress on all levels. Even though I'm not following my own program fully. ;) I've had more energy, better sleep, clearer skin & better fitting clothes. So, ..so far so good. 

Today I ate;

Day 6
3 grapefruits
3 small oranges
4 small Granny Smith apples blended
18-20 small bananas blended

Well, tomorrow is day 7 of the mono week plan. I'm supposed to start the next phase, liquid meals for 1 week on Tuesday. I think I want to do orange wedges (sort of like juicing), blended bananas, and persimmons pureed, for the bulk of the week. I'll buy fruits tomorrow & see what I find at the stores. 
A super awesome friend of mine gave me some Black Sapotes & Canistels today. (What an Angel!)  I can't wait to try them. I'm not sure how long they will take to get ripe, so we will see if they will be on the menu next week. Maybe, maybe. If not, I'll have them after the New Year. 

Today & Yesterday I ate;

On Friday I had blended bananas for brunch & blended veggies for dinner. Saturday (today) I had grapefruits all day & left over blended veggies for dinner. 


I know this is supposed to be a mono week, but for some reason I let the cold get to me. Plus, I haven't been good about buying fruits & keeping the kitchen stocked. There were only cold bananas in the refrigerator on Friday. (I keep them there if they are on the verge of getting too ripe.) It was so chilly yesterday I was in no mood to eat chilly blended bananas all day. Instead I went to the corner store bought a bunch of different veggies and wizzed them up in the blender for a soupy meal. A a quick warm-like solution to the chilly hungry me problem. Silly thinking on my part. It would have been nicer & felt better to have had a selection of yummy juicy fruits, sweet & non sweet, to munch on instead. If I needed a sort of warm feeling, I should have had some cozy herbal tea.


I really want to try a week of mono meals. If I do it though, I need to be prepared. Buying veggies or grapefruits as I need them, little buy little, & at the last minute, is a sure ay to get off track. It's best to be prepared. Especially when one is trying to change old habits. If you don't make it easy for yourself, you will look for the ease of going back to your old ways. Tomorrow I must go fruit shopping.

Today I ate;

Day 3

5 Cuties
5 Persimmons
1 cup of blended Grapefruit (pulp only)
5 cups of blended Oranges (pulp only)
1 cup of Kale juice
2 cups of blended Carrots

:)

Today I ate;

Day two.
9 Persimmons
8 Blended bananas
4 Medjool dates
:)

Today I ate;

Day one of my mono meal week..

9 Persimmons

8 Blended bananas

I feel a tiny bit hungry at the moment (or it might just be a tiny bit rebellious, not hungry). So I might eat another persimmon or two. But to be honest I feel fine & I should be done for the day.

Day one complete!

New Plan ....to bring in 2010 :)

I'm going to try a few things. I want to start the new year off with a BANG! A clean slate, a healthy body & tons of energy! Starting tomorrow I will do one week of mono meals. No mixing, no fancy meals, just whole food totally plain, one food type at a time, (maybe for the whole day too, like a banana only day, or orange wedges only day). Then after that, I will try a week of liquids, (like blended banana, simple raw soups & green juices). After that I am going 'underground' from December 21st to January 1st. (No internet, no talking, no working & no hanging-out. I want to spend 10 days mediating, being silent & clearing my mind, ..and reading books too! I want to have some fun.). -That is the plan! Wish me luck! Xo..

Yesterday & Today

On Saturday I had lots of blended banana & a few persimmons. Later that day I was visiting a friend & got a little hungry around 4-5pm. The only healthy or raw food they had to eat was cabbage, avocado & salsa (-they had potatoes too, but not much I could do with that). So I shredded the cabbage & made a little salad for myself out of the three ingredients. It tasted pretty good. But didn't sit well in my stomach. For Sunday my plan is to eat lots of ripe juicy persimmons, blended banana, orange wedges & herbal tea. -I might make or buy some fresh green veggie juice too.

Today I ate;

Blended bananas

Purple kale-orange juice

Tomatoes with scallions

Today I ate;

Lots of blended bananas, a few cherry tomatoes & Fuyu persimmons! Yum. :)

Today I ate;

Blended bananas

Whole bananas

Cuties (clementines)

Raw carrots, tomatoes & corn, just plain

Today & Yesterday I ate;

Oranges wedges (both days)
Persimmons (both days)
Blended bananas (both days)
Plain tomato (today)
Blended carrot-squash w/ tomato, fresh corn & mixed herbs/lettuces (yesterday)
Medjool dates (yesterday)

Today I ate;

Lots of orange wedges

Blended bananas (twice)

Summer squash w/ tomato-date-celery sauce & cherry tomatoes on top

I really like these foods right now.

I can spend the whole month eating; persimmons, oranges, blended bananas, lettuce wraps & raw squash 'noodles'!

Today I ate;

Orange wedges

1 super fat persimmon that was perfectly ripe!

Camomile tea

Blended bananas

Shredded zucchini w/tomato-date sauce, minced celery & cherry tomatoes

Today & Yesterday I ate;

Thursday~
Persimmons
Then lots of food at the Thanksgiving dinner; 4oz orange juice, 5oz coconut water, 2 small pieces of canistel, 1 small piece of black sapote, various banana types, 5 pieces of durian, bowl of zucchini noodles w/fresh corn & tomato-tahini sauce, 1 small ball of carob-walnut-date mix. -And that's it. Everything was yummy, but my favorite was the canistel.


Friday~
Orange juice
Cup of mixed fruit salad
Blended bananas
Lots of persimmons

Today & Yesterday I ate;

Orange wedges,

Blended bananas,

Persimmons,

Blended veggies w/chopped tomatoes on top, on Tuesday.

Lots of persimmons, (<-- so good!)

Orange wedges

Plain tomatoes, on Wednesday (today).

Tomorrow I will be having a Thanksgiving dinner with friends. You can view the menu here [<--click link]. It will be a fruity menu of course!

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love. Remember to give yourself love. It's the greatest gift you could give to anyone, especially yourself. -Don't forget! Xo...

The last few days..

I've had some computer troubles. I'm looking into getting my laptop fixed or getting a new one. -Ugh, that is not great news, I was fond of this computer, an old friend. It's been good to me.

The good news is I've been eating well, and I think yesterday might have been my best day yet!

On Sunday I had blended bananas for breakfast & lettuce wraps for lunch. The lettuce wraps had raw sprouted beans & shredded veggies in them. -Uh, not a good combo for me. It tasted good, but I felt like it really weighed me down. My stomach felt bloated & unhappy. I think my system craves beans at times but really doesn't like them. The beans could be cooked, marinated, or sprouted/raw, they still bug me. Unless they are mung bean sprouts. Those are fine for me. No trouble at all. (Because they are mostly water.) Anyway, whenever I eat beans I feel bloated, not as peppy & sometimes gassy. (Sorry for the extra info!) OK, now for the really good day, yesterday (Monday) was much better. I had lots of orange wedges for breakfast, blended bananas for lunch & lots of fennel-orange juice for dinner. I had a few medjool dates after that too. I felt really light with even energy. My abs looked flat, (not bloated) & I slept really well. I woke up peppy too. -Yay! Much better. Simple combos & easy to digest water rich foods will give you more energy & better results every time. They definitely do for me.

Today and Yesterday I ate;

I ate almost the same thing on both days..

Kiwis -one day
Blended banana -both days
Orange wedges -one day
Lettuce & Cabbage wraps -both days

The picture above is not of my lettuce wraps, but you get the picture. ;) (-It looks more or less like that.)

Today and Yesterday I ate;

Here is the food list over the last two days..

Blended banana smoothies -both days

Banana-grape smoothie -today only

Lots of orange wedges -both days

Summer squash w/tomato-date sauce on basil leaves -both days

Today I ate;

Plain banana smoothie

Concord grape-banana smoothie

Medjool dates

Zucchini & basil with tomato-date-celery-oregano sauce

Yesterday I ate;

Concord grape-banana smoothies (-super good!)

Lots of orange wedges

Shredded zucchini & chopped basil w/fresh oregano-date-celery-tomato sauce

Today and Yesterday I ate;

Here are all of the foods I ate over the last two days. I'm going to list them all together...

Blended banana

Fuzzy kiwis  ;)

Orange Wedges

Bananas

Persimmons

Heirloom tomatoes

Medjool dates

Baby lettuce salad w/avocado, bell peppers & beans (<--I know! I went a bit off the diet.)

Cucumber-carrot-tomato salad w/shredded zucchini & tomato sauce

Today I ate;

Blended banana smoothie

Whole bananas

Kiwis

Oranges

Dates

Heirloom tomatoes (-lots!)

Shredded cabbage & zucchini  w/date-celery-tomato-basil sauce

Today I ate;

Banana-basil smoothie

Orange wedges 

Pineapple

Soaked prunes

Red leaf lettuce & zucchini w/oregano-basil-tomato-date sauce 

Today and Yesterday I ate;

Monday~ 2180 calories 

Persimmons

Bananas

Blended bananas

Orange wedges 

Zucchini w/tomato-date-basil-celery sauce

Medjool dates

Tuesday~ 2075 calories

Persimmons

Bananas-basil-celery smoothie

Orange wedges 

Pineapple

Kiwis

Shredded purple cabbage w/tomato-date-basil-celery sauce

Medjool dates

I posted calories today so that you see how it all adds up. 

In addition to what I posted, I have been drinking at least 2 liters a day of water & I usually exercise for at least 1 hour in the morning. (Before it was in the evening, but I don't think it works as well. Exercising first thing after you wake up is key.) I have been feeling really good eating low fat & making sure I get enough exercise, water & sleep, (maybe sun too if I can). This is a big change for me. I used to be a nite owl. I was also very inconsistent with sleep & exercise. Water intake was an after thought if I thought about it at all. Now that I have made all of these a priority, my energy has been very consistent & I usually feel pretty peppy on a daily bases. :)

Today and Yesterday I ate;

Saturday~

Persimmons

Celery-banana smoothies

Shredded purple cabbage w/chopped heirloom tomatoes & fresh basil

Sunday~

Persimmons

Concord grape-banana smoothies (<--so good!)

Green leaf lettuce & tomato salad w/chopped orange slices

Kiwis

Today I ate;

Ahhhh.... today was a pleasure. This morning I had a whole pineapple to myself. It didn't bother my tongue the way pineapple does if you eat too much, or if it's unripe. It was perfectly sweet & very sweet to me. :) I also had a few banana salads. They were all the same. The ingredients were; chopped Candy Crisp & Granny Smith apples, chopped Medjool dates & shredded Green Leaf lettuce, & blended banana (with a few dates added) sauce, to top it off. It was yummy!

..And one more thing, 

Today I decided to eat some lettuce plain, almost half a head.
Earlier in the day I made a salad with banana dressing. But ended up with extra greens that were already washed. I took a few bites & it was lovely! I've always needed dressing on my greens. I never thought I would like them plain. But now I know, ..I do!

Today and Yesterday I ate;

Oh man, I'm losing track! Well, I'll just tell you all the fruits I ate over today & yesterday. Some of them were made into smoothies or salads, but most were eaten as is.

Fuyu persimmons

Red grapes

Orange slices

Pineapples

Blended banana

Medjool dates

Red bell peppers

Zucchini

Tomatoes

So far so good with everything. I've been eating really clean over the last four days. My energy has been really good. Better than it's been in a while. I'm thankful. I do have the slight urge to be naughty (and rebel!) and have some big green salad with lots of avocado & a thick dressing made out of sesame seeds, ..but I'm not doin' it. I'm sticking to one month of really clean foods. The kind that don't stick to dishes or need warm water to rinse off. I want to change my taste buds. I want to crave clean foods, mostly fruits, all the time. Forever & ever.. Because I know that when I eat like this, I really do feel my best. :)

Yesterday & Today I ate;

Monday I had persimmons, dandelion-banana smoothies, red grapes & a pineapple. Today I had blended pears, bananas, blended bananas, medjool dates & persimmons. I tried to make a zuchini raw soup, but it didn't turn out well. So I tossed it out. But the the of the fruits I ate today were very yummy. 

Today I ate;

Banana-cactus fruit-kale smoothie

Apple puree with chopped pineapple on top

Shredded zucchini w/tomato-celery sauce

Shredded cabbage & carrot with chopped cucumber

& avocado-bell pepper dressing on top

Today and Yesterday I ate;

I had only durian today & on Friday I had persimmons, a few tangerines, an heirloom lettuce salad w/zucchini & tomato-bell pepper sauce on top.

Today I ate;

Persimmons

Banana-prickly pear cactus fruit-concord grape smoothie

Banana-kale-concord grape smoothie

More persimmons

..I should have been done after eating all of this. I had lots of kale in the smoothie, and a good amount of fruit for the day. Well.. I freaked out a bit and started making some sort of carrot-kale-onion-kimchi dish. I think it's just stress. I needed more food, heavier food,  to mellow me out. Clean fruits & liquid greens were too pure to knock me down. :) I needed something to hit me over the head.  Thank goodness I'm trying to phase habits like this out of my life. I'm looking forward to progress over the next few weeks/months. 

Exciting news...

I have a little plan for the last week of October & the whole month of November. For the last week of this month I'm going to get more fruity & disciplined, I'm gonna clean up my act. Because next month I will be following a program designed by a super sweet Aussie health coach. I'm very excited about it. So, the goal for this week is to get into whole fruits & very simple combos. No fancy salad dressings, no complicated raw dishes, no crazy smoothie combos, just simple foods. Whole fruits, or raw smoothies & salads with very few ingredients. I will be posting the whole journey, so stay tuned...

Yesterday & Today I ate;

On Sunday I has some black grapes with seeds, a few persimmons, & an interesting, very tasty spring mix salad with red onion & home-made organic peanut dressing. Today I had black grapes & persimmons again, plus a lovely cucumber/scallion/spinach salad with ginger-carrot puree on top.

Today and Yesterday I ate;

On Friday I made a good green smoothie. It was made out of 4 super ripe small plantains & half a bunch of kale. There was a 'just OK' salad of spring mix, kimchi & Florida avocado that I ate for lunch. I also had a bit of organic PB too. Today I had durian only. Nothing else. 

Just a reminder for myself (and maybe for you), Drink More Water. I have really fallen off with my water intake lately. I was trying to drink 1 liter first thing in the morning and another in the evening as a general rule. Lately I've been only drinking cups of water. If I don't have a liter on my desk and a liter in my bedroom, it's not happening. I will totally forget. -Note to self. :)

Today and Yesterday;

I ate at Temple in the Village on both days. Their seaweed salads and mixed salads were very satisfying. I had persimmons for breakfast on both days as well. Today I also had some dessert. It was an apple & oat type thing. Not so great. I think plain ol' fruit is the ultimate dessert. I'm rarely impressed with other sweet treats.

 

Today and Yesterday I ate;

Both days I had fruit for breakfast & vegan veggie wraps (-without rice & tofu, I got spinach or lettuce instead) for lunch/dinner. The veggies wraps were a last resort. Nothing was available. I was on the go on Monday (my last day in California), and today I had a long day traveling (choices limited to airport food).  I'm back in NYC now.  -I really love this city. :) 

Today I ate;

Persimmons

Papaya

Durian (<--Wow! one of the best I've ever had! So good!)

Mixed green salad

w/seaweed, avocado & cherry tomatoes

Today I ate;

Persimmons

Blueberry-aloe-spinach smoothie

Arugula salad with avocado & cherry tomatoes

LOTS of black figs

Medjool dates

Yesterday I ate;

Persimmons

Durian

Figs

Mixed green salad w/napa cabbage

& cherry tomatoes, avocado, seaweed

Yesterday & today I ate;

Wednesday~

Fresh lemon-dandelion-ginger-beet juice

Durian

Raw vegan nachos & salad at Cafe Gratitude

Chamomile tea

Thursday~

Fresh lemon-cucumber-cilantro-cabbage juice

Durian

Persimmons

Vietnamese food (mixed veggies & cabbage salad)

Bites of chocolate at Citizen Cake

Yesterday I ate;

Mango-spinach smoothie

Dandelion salad w/cauliflower & sauerkraut

Almond treat (<--raw almond butter, agave, cinnamon)

And my favorite ....durian!

Yesterday I ate;

Super yummy raw vegan food at Cafe Gratitude in Berkeley. I love going to their restaurants. They always inspire me to have a deep conversation with the person I'm dining with. If you've ever been there, you know what I mean. There is a box with cards, pencils & paper on your table. The cards have Zen quotes, random questions about life, different things that can spark an intimate conversation. Sometimes the waiter has a question of the day as well. It's a fun experience. It's much more than just food. It's food for the soul, for the spirit.