I'm Back!

I've been getting ready for my senior art exhibition and haven't been able to post! I am finally almost done with the preparations. So this is what I have been up to...

I made pizza crusts from a recipe in Juliano's Raw cookbook. I made it from Sprouted buckwheat.

They were so good that I had a variation of pizza every day for lunch! The first time I made a big batch of sauce from tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, salt, oil, and herbs. I used it all week too. The first pizza was in a normal style. Sauce, veggies, marinated mushrooms, olives and drippy cheese. I tried to go simple with the cheese so I made it from nutritional yeast with salt, olive oil and water. It was good!

 

The next day I shredded some zucchini and carrot and I think some beet and made a sort of spaghetti with the sauce and veggies and just put it on the crusts. This time I did not make drippy cheese but just sprinkled the nutritional yeast on top. I loved it! 

Some other things I got into were kitchen sink cookies from the We Like it Raw. So so good! 

And ice-cream. I made my ice-cream from blended bananas, vanilla, coconut water, salt and carob. 

 

After all this goodness, I decided to give my body a rest from all the heavy digesting. I've been doing a few days of juice feasting. It feels really good. It was hard the first day or two but now it seems easier than ever, especially since I know I am not doing it for three months! I'll be done in a few days. I feel like it helps me rest after all that running around getting my art ready to show. It is also so much nicer when the weather is warming up. 

I started growing more wheatgrass. And an update on my worms...failed or sort of failed experiment. I finally took the worm bin outside because it was starting to smell. When it went out the smell really came up! Nasty! It was the water that collected at the bottom. There was a lot of it. I had no idea. I was supposed to be collecting that and feeding it to my house plants. It smelled so putrid but it must have been very nutritious because mushrooms were growing out of it when I finally dumped it. Then I left the worm bin outside. I went out of town and heavy rains came. My roommate checked on the worms but the bin was full of water. She dumped the water out. When I came home it just looked sad. Then it rained again! I dumped the water out and started dumping out what was inside. It smelled so awful! I had to do it a little at a time. Finally I borrowed a shovel and dug a hole and buried the stinking compost. When I dug there were many worms so I had a glimmer of hope that some of my worms survived. Poor wormies!

Next time I will not make such a large worm bin. Also, I will do the stacking method. It is much easier because the worms climb up into the next small bin once they have finished making compost of the first. the bins are small enough to lift easily and shift around. I've learned my lesson!

Okay, that is all for now.

Ciao a tutti!

Elizabeth

 

What a day!

Only three days left of juice. Hard to believe I am having my second worst detox only now. Actually it was a little self induced. I went to have a one hour massage last night which turned into an almost three hour massage. He said that I really needed it and that he liked his job so he just went on. I was grateful to only pay for one hour but I doubled the tip. I wish I could have given more! I asked for a detoxing massage, boy did I get it. I started feeling low when I was trying to finish up my drawing and sculpture on time to get them to their critiques today. I was dissatisfied with both and in a huge hurry. I made it to school on time and luckily I was being hard on myself. Everyone liked both things. A bit of PMS is added to this equation as well. I am happy to be getting on a normal schedule for myself and the warnings that are showing that my cycle is working properly again. So, I will be thankful. 

I woke today to snow covering the ground. Hard to believe because two days ago I was in my bikini on the roof sunbathing in 70 degree weather. The cold made my detoxing and shivering worse. I soaked in an epsom salts tub for a while and kept reheating the water. That warmed me up for now and I am ready for bed early.  So, this is a short post as I am tired and wanting sleep and relief from this day. Hopefully I will be able to write some more in the next days before my prunes!How exciting. 

Buona notte,

Elizabeth

A quick update on my composting worms and wheatgrass, The wheat grass is tall and wonderful and I have been using it each morning. I turned up my worms when I arrived home from Chicago. When I opened the container there were many little sprout. I wish I would have thought to save them and see what came out of them! I turned up the soil and saw all the little worms. I even saw teeny tiny ones and hope they are new. The deep down stuff in the container was rank and I hope that it is not too low for the worms. I may have to turn all that stuff up to the top so that they work on it too. Yuk. Not looking forward to that smell again. Like horse manure but worse. ciao!

Happy Valentine's day again. A gorgeous day that brought many smiles to my face. I had a date on skype with my boyfriend this morning and a big beautiful vase of flowers this afternoon. <3

As for juicing, I thought I would be romantic and make exactly what I was craving. Orange juice. For my morning drink I made orange, carrot, spinach, celery, blackberry. I really only craved orange, carrot, and blackberry but I needed to work my celery and greens in too. It was delicious as you can see and it even came out nice enough that I could make a heart shape in it. 

So, I have been craving Orange juice all day yesterday and today. I attribute it to working out. I've never had such strong cravings as today. I made orange in all my drinks but my last one which I always make savory and similar to V8. I wanted to know if this need for orange juice is okay at this point so I looked on the Juice Feasting website and the timeline showed that I should have tried to cut back on sweet fruity drinks about ten days ago! I thought that It would be okay with working out and I read somewhere that you can start working out harder after forty days...But I was mistaken again. The website said that you can workout harder after 60 days. I've had a pretty rigorous schedule and I am used to it and I don't want to stop. I hope that I am not damaging myself or my juice feast. I think I will do some more research and find out exactly what the consequences would be. 

Back to Msm powder. My friend has been experiencing the same sulfurous symptoms that I had. We decided to cut back and hope that this just means that we don't need it as much. That is another question that I plan to look into.

I almost forgot to mention! My composting worms came today! A bunch of tiny little 

guys ready to see their new home. 

Also, I bought some organic soil and treys to start growing my own wheatgrass. The wheat berries are soaking now. I can't wait! I love saving money by growing my own things!

It's late again and I need to sleep.

-<3-

Elizabeth

It's still Day 34!

It was a beautiful day today with nice sunny weather. Perfect for a walk. I actually went jogging for the first time while on my juice feast. I have been swimming, doing yoga, the Tibetan Rites, taking a belly dance class and working out at the gym a bit. I am fortunate to have all these free classes at school. Everything I have been doing is pretty low impact. So I decided to start jogging to get my heart rate up and help with the weight loss. I also need to be in good "running" order for when my ultimate frisbee class starts in March. Yes, my school actually offers ultimate frisbee as a class. I love the game and am very excited to be exercising that way.

On my jog/walk I thought of millions of things to say on this blog. I've forgotten most now, so I'll just begin with a bit about my juice feast so far. 

My detoxing has not been very bad. I have had very tiny zits occasionally and today being my first occasion for a really big zit right on my cheek! I had sleep in my eyes during the first weeks. Actually my first day or two I felt a bit nauseated and tired. I wanted to sleep long for the first week. After that I was up at 7 every morning without the alarm, even when I went to bed late. 

My energy has been outstanding and sometime I feel obnoxiously so. I've had a few moments of nauseated feelings during enemas. Around day 12 I went to a sauna and did rotation of sauna and cold shower for a while. It felt good to be in the warmth but when I arrived home I was cold and had to bundle up and stay in for the rest of the night. I get occasional chills but not that bad and not often. My tongue was coated for at least the first week and my teeth get a fuzzy feeling. I try to brush as much as I can. 

A funny thing that has happened is that my B.O. sometimes smells like celery. They say to juice one head of celery a day and I have been faithful. Getting two pounds of leafy greens is a bit

 more difficult. 

I have been using supplements such as greener grasses, msm powder, chlorella, kelp granules, dulse, salt, turmeric, and blue green algae.

I use the skin brush almost daily and use msm lotion on my face and areas of old scares, stretch marks and sore joints. 

I do a green juice every morning and every night. I usually add a fruit to my morning greens like pineapple or apples. I just tend to want something sweet at that time. I also have some wheatgrass right now and fortunately I have been blessed with a Greenstar Juicer and can juice it. I just ordered some seeds and I am going to try to give myself a green thumb. I've already been non-stop sprouting. 

Some of my favorite juices are:

Carrot/Orange

Apple/Ginger/Lemon, peel and all (make sure it is organic) This one is fabulous!

Grapefruit juice with bluegreen algae and a squirt of stevia

Squash/Carrot/Vanilla/Salt/Cayenne -Inspired by Angela Stoke's juicings during her feast

Everything green in the fridge plus pineapple or apple

Tomato/Spinach/Carrot/Celery/Garlic/Ginger/Parsley/and anything else in fridge plus salt, cayenne, and turmeric. 

Fresh young coconut water with Greener Grasses powder. Taste amazing! I also got that one from Angela. It tastes sweet and malty.

I use bee pollen , organic honey, hemp oil and coconut oil although not every day. I use the coconut oil every third day and I love to mix my pollen into it.

Off the subject of Juice feasting, Last night I started something that I am 

so excited about. I made my very own indoor worm composting bin. I have been saving all of my pulp in my freezer and then driving it out to my parents home once a week to compost there. My freezer fills up and it is so annoying. I just decided to take care of it right in my kitchen. I learned how by doing a search on Youtube. After a few demos I was ready. I made mine huge! 30 gallons. I took two plastic bins with lids. I poked small holes on the bottom of one and around the top and in the lid. I placed two old Almond butter jars in the bottom of the hole-free bin. Next I placed the holed bin inside of it. There needs to be space for the drippings from the compost. You can use those drippings as fertilizer for your  houseplants. Next I put a store bought flower box bedding thing made out of coconut fiber in the bottom of my holed bin. I made a layer of paper shreds. I used old whole foods paper bags all cut up. Then I sprayed it down to moisten. Next I put a layer of Veggie pulp from juicing and another layer of paper. Another pulp layer and another paper layer and then a bit of soil. They say to wait a couple weeks before adding your worms so that the moisture level is optimal. I ordered my worms today and have no idea when they are coming but are going in as soon as they get here. It won't hurt them to go in early. You need to have Red worms, not just any old worm that you find. I found mine on Amazon. 

Well, That's it for now.

Thanks!

Elizabeth