Thursday, January 27th, 2011
For the past few years, I’ve basically lived a “high raw” life and I’ve enjoyed it. Some days were all raw and some were mostly raw with a sprinkling of days that were only moderately raw (they’re always vegan though). I’m a big believer in listening to your body, taking it easy, and not stressing about food choices so long as you’re feeling good and more often than not doing the right thing.
At the end of December, though, my tune changed a bit. My diet had been quite clean, but my body told me to eat more raw and kick it up a notch. I felt drawn to it and excited about it.
So, it’s been a month now and I’ve been pretty much 100% Raw with exception to 4 meals (which were still partly raw) in addition to the oats I’m going to eat a few days a week that I mentioned in my last post to help with my breastmilk supply if I feel it’s necessary.
What do I think? Well. I feel amazing, as you might expect. I feel euphoric, on top of the world, extra lean, and I’m running on all cylinders with ease. It’s a great feeling. My cells are dancing. I’ve got my groove on and it feeeeeeeels awesome.
I wrote in my last email newsletter (sign up here) about a couple of different ways that you can successfully stick to the raw diet with ease. I’m doing the method now where I constantly load up on fresh produce and raw foods so that my kitchen is always stocked with just about anything I could want to make a recipe. I am loving this method. Every night I think about what I might make the next day and I write down all of the possibilities, whether I stick to the plan or not. It’s a guide. Not set in stone and it gives me ideas to help me stick to the goal of raw while still allowing flexibility for changing tastes or if Kamea decides that making a raw lasagna is not in the cards that day.
I’m staying stocked with food. I have bags of granola, jars of all different nuts and seeds, kale chips galore, nut butters up the wazoo, stashes of different snack bars (some bought, some homemade), protein powders by the case, my dehydrator has been humming non-stop for the past month, I’m loaded with different kinds of crackers and trail mix, my counters and refrigerators are bursting with fresh produce, and my freezers have frozen fruit, chocolate truffles, and other stocked foods (sprouting seeds, flax seeds, and chia seeds - oh my!). And. I just ordered a bunch of jars of Rawtella because I don’t ever want to be caught without it. It’s the PERFECT fix when I need my chocolate. How do I stay stocked like this? Well, I go to the store 1-2 times a week plus get a weekly food delivery for my produce. For most of the other stuff (nuts, seeds, packaged foods) I usually go online for good deals.
It’s really cool. I wake up and think…. “Wow, I can’t wait to start my day!” As my friend, Lauren, might say, “Nerd alert.” lol
Maybe I feel like raw pizza? No problem… I have cracker crusts in my pantry. I have nuts I can quickly soak to make cheese. I have fresh tomatoes and basil to chop and spread on top. Voila! Pizza. Oh.. I want soup? Easy…. Load my blender up with fresh produce along with some homemade nut milk and I’m good to go. Perhaps I want to take it easy and sip on some green juice – awesome… grab some kale, celery, and cukes. Done. Can’t decide what to have? Ok… get started with a salad and go from there…. sprouts, bell pepper, carrots, olives, avocado… yum! Or maybe I want a hearty collard green bad-ass wrap – cool – I have all the fixin’s for that, too… sprouts, chopped lettuce, shredded beet, lime juice, olives, whip up some cashew cheese or spread some miso on it, add more veggies and a sprinkling of Himalayan crystal salt. Mmmmm mmmmm. Or how about some of that fancy, certified organic coconut water that is $10 bucks a bottle? Give me a case so I’m stocked (and you get a discount when buying by the case) and I’ll take that treat all day long! I get slap happy just thinking about it stocked up in my freezer.
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| This is my big freezer. |
I know some people ask me how I keep a kitchen stocked with the cost of some raw foods. Well, here is the thing. I’ve said this before. I gladly put my money into my health with raw foods. All organic. I really don’t think twice about it. Ok, maybe sometimes I think twice, but then I slap myself (not really) and say, “Snap out of it, Kristen, you are worth it. This is your health!” I don’t really do a lot of shopping for things that maybe others shop for… instead I use my money for my kitchen and raw lifestyle. I buy appliances that keep my excitement running high for food prep. I get happy shivers down my spine when I snag lots of orange bell peppers at Whole Foods. I don’t drink fancy coffee drinks that many people spend hundreds of dollars on a month… instead I spend that money on goji berries, pine nuts, fancy raw sprouted almond and cashew butters, raw cacao, and other dazzling raw goodies.
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| This is the door to the freezer. |
Also… I buy in bulk. This cuts down on the cost. You can also split the foods with friends if getting in bulk is too much. I look for things on sale. We rarely eat out, too. In Kris Carr’s new book, Crazy Sexy Diet, she calculates the cost of eating fast food for the day and it amounts to about $20 a person. That’s not cheap – and that’s fast food! By making my meals at home, even when I use more expensive products because they’re organic, it’s not unreasonable. Oh, and by the way, I rarely get sick. I don’t take prescriptions. That saves money in the long run!
Plus. When it comes to the holidays and my birthday, I am not shy about telling people exactly what I want whether it’s a shiny new juicer, a gift card to Amazon to help me save for an appliance or get this… I ask for gift cards to Whole Foods. I know… some people want to scream LAME! Heck no – I love it! I’ve also redeemed credit card rewards for Amazon.com gift cards and then used those on raw food appliances and supplies.
Bottom line – I want to live until I’m at least 100 years of age. I want to be healthy for Kamea all my years. I want my husband to be there with me every step of the way. How do we reach that goal? EATING HEALTHY! It’s our priority and we live it.
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Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
I’m currently reading Kris Carr’s latest book, Crazy Sexy Diet. One word: AMAZING. Kris Carr’s latest masterpiece for living your best and healthiest self is filled with energy and pizzazz that bounce off every page. It keeps you coming back for more… a crazy sexy addiction. Seriously. The moment I finished the book, I flipped to the front and started reading it again because it’s so darn good and I just couldn’t get enough. Kris Carr’s flair is fun and fiery and you can’t help but want to do everything she recommends in the book straightaway. I’m telling ya… buy this book and it’ll become your new best friend. You’ll want to hug it. Possibly sleep with it.
Full disclosure: Yours truly has some recipes featured in the book… but that’s not why I’m writing. I’m telling you to buy the book today because we want to help this dazzling goddess out right now… this is TIME SENSITIVE! By purchasing her book this week (January 16-22) it’s being tracked for the opportunity of being on the bestseller list. Let’s help her reach that goal! Buy Crazy Sexy Diet right here!
I’m not the only one who thinks Kris Carr has got it going on! Check out these testimonials from some of my superheroes.
“Kris has been there, and she brings the depth of her experience to this uplifting book and offers tips from experts and success stories along the way. She even offers a 21-day cleanse with recipes included. Kris Carr is an incredible and tireless advocate for health and she’ll be your coach, confidant, and companion page after page. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have.” -Neal Barnard, M.D.
“Kris Carr makes practical and hopeful suggestions as we face greater and greater numbers of our friends and family falling prey to chronic degenerative disease. I am personally inspired by her example in leading the way for people to take control of their bodies and their health.” -T. Colin Campbell, PhD
“Kris Carr titillatingly turns a kitchen into a pharmacy. -Dr. Mehmet Oz
“Consider this not a diet book, but a guide to living fully; not a meal plan, but a road map to self-empowerment, adorned with Kris’s unrivaled enthusiasm, humor, and compassion.” -Dean Ornish, M.D.
How cool is this? She’s offering the first chapter of the book for free right here! Once you take a taste, you can’t turn away. You’ll want more and more. So, read the first chapter and then go and buy her book.
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As many of you know, I’ve been letting my bleached blonde hair grow out to my natural brown color. Here is an email I received today…
Hi Kristen, I saw your video and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. You look great but I do prefer you as a blonde, it just fits better with you. I WAS a natural blonde until nature turned it darker around 16…:( Anyway I am really into raw, non toxic stuff like you are. However I almost was going to go au natural with the hair (very very blonde by the way) until I realized I just didn’t want to. I WANT to be blonde, and a little hair dye isn’t going to kill me ya know? We are all dying and everthing around us is a toxic threat, cars, flying, radiation. I personally felt I would live happier being blonde, it feels like me. And in your video I could tell you are just a blonde. I only did my roots during my pregnancy once (before I know I was preggers) and other than that just had some dark roots for 8 months lol.
I do a natural hair color, that is as non toxic as it gets and I do highlights, so nothing is really touching my scalp except for the toner for 5 minutes. I’m not bleach blonde anymore, but I am very blonde and the highlights make it seem bleach blonde. Anyway this was just to let you know I was in the same position as you and it is OK to live life. Oh and I totally agree too if you keep it natural, I just wanted to give some friendly advice!!
I got a real kick out of this email because… I am living life and I love it. I don’t take the stance that I should accept that I’m just dying (and that we all are). I am alive and I’m excited to be doing things in an attempt to prolong that. Of course, there are toxins out there that I cannot really control (cars, pollution, etc.), so I’m doing what I can, to control as much as possible many other things such as eating a healthy diet, getting exercise, making sure I rest and have good quality sleep, and using the healthiest hair and beauty products.
One of the defining moments for me when I decided to go natural was the result of spending a lot of time on Kris Carr’s forum, CrazySexyLife. It was hard seeing so many young women with cancer. And, at that point I realized that a clean diet is not enough. Yes, things are cumulative when it comes to stresses on the body and that’s the point; I want to do as much as I can to reduce that accumulation. Furthermore… even if I can reduce my toxicity… I realize that doesn’t guarantee I won’t get cancer, but I can’t help but feel that it helps.
What’s funny (and was unexpected) is that, since going back to brunette, I feel more natural now,with respect to my overall attitude and aura, than I have in 20 years. I walk by a mirror and I feel beautiful… I just wish my hair were longer and that’s the hardest thing for me right now. Not only has my hair been blond for so long, but it’s always been very long. I’m trying to grow it out and that’s been the hardest part. All I can do is be patient.
I respect that maybe the gal who wrote the email doesn’t want to be natural, but I do. I have no intention of going back to blond. I am very happy with the color of my hair. I love it. I am avoiding as many chemicals as possible, because it’s not good for my health or for the environment. I think a lot of people forget that the environment also suffers when not only the coloring products wash down the drain and into our water supply, as well as taking into account the fuel needed to produce the product, but also the upkeep of other products needed to maintain the colored hair so it doesn’t look processed (i.e., shampoos, conditioners, hair balm, gel, etc). All of those things have a detrimental eco effect. For me, it’s not just one little procedure every few months. I can’t validate what I was doing using that logic. And, the fact that some processes don’t touch my scalp doesn’t let me off the hook either… it still damages the shaft of my hair. Bleach-damaged hair requires a chemical soup of products in order to appear healthy while it’s actually quite porous. I’m so relieved that the days of seeing so many frizzed-out flyaway rogue hairs around my face are gone. No more breakage! No more ends snapping off! (Hair isn’t supposed to do that!) My hair is beautifully soft and shiny and healthy. It now feels right, both literally and figuratively.
It’s not an issue you hear about very often, but I expect we’ll all be hearing about it more as time goes by and data come in about the additive effects of toxins on the body.
So how about all of you out there? If you color your hair, or have ever considered doing so, did toxicity play any role in your thinking? Or have you switched one way or the other, only to have people coming out of the woodwork telling you they liked it the other way? Please share your story!
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The lovely, fun, extraordinarily awesome Kris Carr asked me to write a guest post for her blog. I was honored and humbled, and, of course, I jumped at the chance. If you’d like to read it, come on over here. I wrote about Raw Vegan lifestyle tips.
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Broccoli. There is so much to say about broccoli and her powers. She’s mighty and strong and delicious and beautiful and oh-so-powerful. We all need broccoli in our life. While I’m not fighting cancer that I know of, I am certainly doing everything in my life to prevent it. And broccoli is in my arsenal of weapons for doing this.
Many of you think I’m doing the following amazing preparations for getting pregnant and think that’s the main reason I’m changing so many things such as:
1) TRULY natural hair and body care products (how do your products rate?)
2) Making my own home cleaning products (posting recipes I’m using soon)
3) No longer coloring my blond locks (read more here)
4) My super healthy diet, and more
Yes, because I’m trying to get pregnant soon, I want to be as healthy as possible. But, that’s not the only reason.
Some of you know I’m a regular contributor at Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Life community (I’ve recently been honored as an Ambassador of the community – I’m so thrilled about that). Well, since contributing regularly in that super warm, amazing community, my eyes have been opened big time. You don’t have to have cancer to be a part of that group because it’s an overall wellness community, but many of the people there do have cancer. People my age. People just like me. People just like you. It’s humbling and sad, yet empowering. I’ve concluded that I’m not leaving it up to my diet for preventing cancer. I’m not taking any chances… and why should I? (or why should you for that matter?) I’m doing everything I can to live as clean a life as possible, because the toxins in our environment are overwhelming (you know those products you “thought” were okay, well, some are still not safe – read shocking info here). After spending time in Kris Carr’s community and seeing so many people fight cancer, I’m maintaining my new EXTRA healthy and clean lifestyle for good, whether I conceive or not.
It’s easy to do. There are so many terrific products (or ingredients to make your own) on the market that it’s a no-brainer to me (for beauty, hair, cleaning, etc – I’ll post my favorites soon!). And, Whoo-Whee, don’t forget about all the good you’re doing for the environment by making these better choices. Let me just tell you, I’ve never felt so proud… and so amazing, wonderful, pure, energized, and full of life.
Okay, so let’s get back to one of the powerhouse cancer fighting and preventing staples in my life… broccoli. I love broccoli. I’ll be honest, I’m not a raving fan of just eating it plain and raw. Those cute little trees are a little tough when they’re in that form. But, I do enjoy it in the following ways:
1) Juice (I made Broccoli Carrot Plant Blood today – serious deliciousness)
2) Smoothie (blended with bananas, apples, or mango)
3) Pureed Raw in a dish like Flying Dragon Broccoli
4) Sprouts (more info on HUGE sprout powers here)
5) Very gently steamed
To cook or not to cook? I’ve read many things stating that broccoli should be steamed gently to release some of the nutrients. Of course, by steaming or cooking, you destroy many other nutrients as well. So, I do both. I’m keeping it balanced by enjoying it Raw in most cases (as well as having it lightly steamed on occasion). Here is a great article detailing the amazing cancer fighting benefits of Raw broccoli. Additionally, broccoli juice has been shown to decrease LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels.
Let’s give broccoli (vegetable royalty), a huge applause for the following:
vitamin C, vitamin A, folic acid, calcium, chromium, fiber, potassium, magnesium, lutein, zeaxanthin, phosphorous… just to name a few basics, but that’s not all:
indoles and isothiocynates: Major cancer fighting players by neutralizing carcinogens – noted for helping prevent lung and esophageal cancers among others.
sulforaphane glucosinolate: Sprouts have a far higher concentration of these than mature broccoli. Shown to stop the growth of breast and prostate cancer cells. Other studies show the growth of thyroid and goiter cancer cells to be slowed when treated with sulfur containing substances found in broccoli. They may also help prevent the growth of bacteria causing stomach ulcers.
indole-3-carbinol: Stimulator of detoxifying enzymes and shown to protect DNA.
So… got broccoli?
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I'm Kristen, and welcome to my blog. I'm a wife, mom, author, and I love to eat so food is usually the topic of my blog posts. I'm a former (almost decade long) vegan turned back omnivore who enjoys reading, rebounding, coffee, and dark chocolate. 
