Remember Simplicity

It's a beautiful cool mountain morning. The air is crisp still and breezy.

I have made my breakfast:: half an avocado that has been drenched in lemon juice and sprinkled with cayenne pepper. I have a glass of hot water and the juice of half a lemon. I have a pile of grapefruit pieces that have also been sprinkled with cayenne pepper. I like to peel the grapefruit and eat it like an orange.

One of the best things for me in switching to raw-ish living was easing up on the way I thought about food, cooking, eating, preparing. I eased up on the way I judged myself. I stopped worrying. The Hawaiians have a term "no worries". Try it.

I look at my plate this morning, fresh, raw and vibrantly alive and think "so am I!"

We are what we eat, just like we are what we think, we are what we do, we are what we express. We are a continual expression in and out of life, and as we exhale we say yes, and as we inhale we say thank you. That's it.

If you can keep it that simple what else is there but 'no worries'?  Yes, thank you. Smile.

Colors are brighter, life is cleaner. Slow down, breathe, say thank you and say yes to life. Taste it again. It's pretty good! And it doesn't need fancy sauces, or fancy preparations.

Chop with a sharp knife, tear it apart with your fingers and lick the juice, get into it again, both your food, and your life! Be well and remember "no worries".

Benefits of Conscious Eating

One of the things that adding more raw to my daily food did was bring me to an awareness of my own eating patterns, and connected me to the language of my body. By that I mean that our body only has the means of physical signals to communicate with 'us' - the conscious self that thinks it knows or  can figure out everything. I realized I had used food to numb myself out to that communication forever.

When I began to eat with conscious awareness, I noticed how I felt both before and after I ate. I realized I really did have a reaction to wheat that made me congested and my nose feel swollen. I had NEVER noticed before. I no longer have that reaction with wheat, but I don't much care for it. I have CHOSEN to not eat it, rather than feeling like I can't eat it.

Now for some people that have never had food issues, that may well be normal for them. But, remember I used to weigh 300 pounds, and though it was 20 years ago now, it seems like yesterday sometimes, when  I am reminded of what it felt like to be overwhelmed by my own body, and feeling betrayed and confused by it as if it were a stranger to me and I was trapped inside.

I will see someone struggling in an airplane seat and instantly recall the feel of the armrests against my sides as I would attempt to make myself smaller so I didn't invade someone else's space, energetically apologizing for being me.By the same token,  I still marvel when I click a seatbelt around me in the airplane now and have to pull it tighter - that it really is me. When the gentleman in the aisle in front asked for a seatbelt extender I instantly remembered having to ask for one myself once and the shame that washed over me as I did. I was 8 months pregnant, but the withering look the flight attendant shot me, shaming to the bone.

So raw food is the first thing that seems to have freed me from so many of the misunderstandings I had about how and why I ate. I thought I was eating to numb out, but really I was eating to fill up a void that was an aching painful emptiness. I was already numb. I was trying to feel. I was trying to wake myself up and bring myself back in by chewing and crunching.

Notice for yourself as you eat more raw, and clear yourself out, and wake yourself up, how you really feel. And if I can suggest one thing: don't be afraid of the feelings. We are feeling beings. That's why we are here. LET yourself feel.

Ayervedic cooking

Looking into a different way of eating--why not?

There are 6 tastes in Ayurvedic cooking, and they should be eaten at each meal...sweet, sour, pungent, astringent, salty and bitter. That's quite a variety to hit with every main meal isn't it? American diets don't touch but maybe 2 or 3. We aren't big on mixing tastes up.

Each of the tastes balance a different energy in us, and if include each of them, we will reduce cravings. We certainly don't come NEAR to covering all these bases in our meals!

They also classify foods into physical types, or doshas: heavy, light, dry, liquid, warm or cool, and we should eat to balance the energy of our dosha.

Vata is rough, hard, cold, dry and light
Pitta is sharp, hot, oily and light
Kapha dosha is cold, liquid, heavy and unctuous.

Find out what your dosha is and then eat to counterbalance it...I think that's how it works? I need some more work on this-it seems confusing to me, but it could just be because it's so different.


They believe we need all foods, all food groups and all food types.
Include lots of spices, colors, and textures so the plate looks appealing.