By the time I post, I will be well into my Thrive Journey. I was asked by Maya Henderson to join her and a few others on the Thrive in 30 challenge. Can you eat raw for 30 days the way Brendan Brazier eats raw? Are you ready to experience more energy? Are you ready to be free of cravings? Are you ready to get all your nutritional needs met? Even the nutritional needs of a triathlete? Are you ready to handle stress more easily? Are you ready to sleep great?
I picked up the book, Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life ,and read it one Friday night. I felt like I was hearing my own words on many of the pages. Brendan Brazier is a professional Ironman triathlete. He is a vegan. He tried lots of ways of eating. He developed this way of eating and developed the Vega product line. I do use and love to use the Vega EFA oil blend. If his energy bars didn’t contain wheatgrass, I’d love those too. I am allergic to the stuff, really allergic like go to hospital throat closing up allergic. If I had zero time in my life, I would also use his smoothie powder, but I have enough time to toss in my own ingredients. I also had enough time to try some of his raw recipes: energy bars, nut and seaweed pates, crackers, and my favorite kale wrap.
As some of you know I’ve been drinking a quart of smoothied green veggies and a little fruit every day the last five months. You may have seen a facebook status or a twitter post stating my smoothie ingredients of the day. Some weren’t so palatable, but most were awesome. The program I followed from the summer forward, of which the smoothies was only a portion, increased my energy, eliminated cravings, deepened my sleep and began the physical and emotional cleansing I needed.
So I can say Thrive maintained those achievements, educated me on some foods, and posed some time management challenges. Had I not gotten my feet wet with the summer smoothie adventure into raw food, I don’t know that I would have stayed with the Thrive Challenge. Life has been chaotic and the Thrive food prep took a mind shift, a little forethought, and an extra bag to carry every day! Unfortunately many of the ingredients since they are raw or a bit obscure must be purchased at a natural grocer. You aren’t going to find hemp seeds, maca, raw cacao, or raw goji berries, nuts or seeds just anywhere. Sometimes the Raw and Macrobiotic bars at the local natural grocer were lunch, snack and dinner for me. Not cost effective but exactly what I needed.
Did I have days that were not entirely raw? Heck yes. Two consecutive days - PMS days, mild irritation amplified to high stress and I ate bread. Good bread. Local bakery bread. And a not so good 10-pieces of bite size Halloween chocolate binge. My body rebelled with a flare of mouth sores. Nice.I ate a few eggs. I went out for Indian another night. I had a couple glasses of wine and a bloody mary. I wasn’t craving a drink, I wasn’t stressed, I was just out and enjoying life. So 2 of the last 30 days were stressful, while 5 of the last 30 days were off the Thrive wagon. Those aren’t terrible statistics.
Post script: in the three weeks since the end of the Thrive in 30 challenge, I ate a cooked Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey and lots of vegetables; I ate real pizza; I ate ice cream. I was low spirited and low energy and a little reactive. This isn’t how I want to feel or present, so I do my best every day. I drink my quart of veggie smoothies; I grab nuts and fruit if I didn’t prepare meals for the day; and reserve the deviations from a raw vegan lifestyle when with friends and family.
I’ve been on an adventure of green smoothies and of fruits from faraway places, and I’m returning to share a few recipes and a bit more of my current adventure! First, here are a few smoothies. Blend one up, sit back and read.I try everything once, take what I like, and make it my own.
I tend to blend up more ingredients than “they” suggest, so I’ve pared down the ingredients in traditional green smoothie style.
Most smoothiable veggies I don’t eat. Celery, cucumbers, zucchini, or lettuce are apparently the base for many varieties. I did use a red pepper, raw onion and raw garlic a few times, but really not a fan of drinking those. I am a fan of the cruciferous family which is comprised of siblings broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, etc; and as you will learn, cruciferous are not smoothiable. So I was rather stuck.
The base of my green smoothies consists of a few of these ingredients daily. Don’t drink the same greens day after day; each have great health benefits, mix it up. I’ve only given you a glimpse of what each contain.
Romaine Lettuce is an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin K, folate, vitamin C, manganese, and chromium. It prevents cholesterol from sticking to artery walls.
Spinach, Chard and Beet greens contain at least 13 different flavonoid compounds that function as antioxidants and as anti-cancer agents.
Cucumber contains silica, an essential component of healthy connective tissue and cucumbers reduce water retention which can reduce certain types of high blood pressure.
Celery contains vitamin C and several other active compounds that promote health, including phthalides, which may help lower cholesterol, and coumarins, that may be useful in cancer prevention.
Parsely contains volatile oils-particularly myristicin-have been shown to inhibit tumor formation. Flavonoids in parsley-especially luteolin-have been shown to function as antioxidants that combine with highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules (called oxygen radicals) and help prevent oxygen-based damage to cells.
Summer squashes are excellent sources of manganese and vitamin C. It is also a very good source of magnesium, vitamin A, dietary fiber, potassium, copper, folate, and phosphorus. In addition, summer squash is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, calcium, zinc, niacin, and protein.
So the base is a little on the savory side, not so sweet and not so palatable for most people. The average green smoothie drinker will use 60% fruit to 40% vegetable, so definitely add some fruit. Banana thickens and sweetens it and dates are sweet, avocado thickens a smoothie and provides good fat. How about some berries or cherries? Not very sweet but full of antioxidants. Then, try more exotic items like coconut meat, coconut water and acai berries. Coconut contains good fats that actually help you process fats and the water contains necessary trace minerals and acai is filled with antioxidant qualities if they aren’t overly sugared or processed.
I still stayed quite savory adding basil, cilantro, thyme, or mint to berry, pineapple, papaya smoothies. I also used tamarind and guanabana pulp found in the frozen section of Mexican grocers, plus kiwi and pears.
I don’t use cruciferous veggies raw in smoothies because they inhibit the thyroid. I don’t need my endocrine system slowing down, so eating these veggies cooked or fermented will bring out their better qualities.
If you are drinking these in the Fall and Winter, add ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon or a dash of cayenne or drink them room temperature. Consuming cold or cold-natured items in the cold temperature seasons isn’t ideal for your body to break down so you can warm them up with spices. You may want to skip cooling summer vegetables like cucumbers until the the prime season for them come back around. Stick with slightly bitter or winter vegetables like celery, swiss chard, lettuces or spinach. Experiment with short season fall fruits like pomegranates and persimmon.
Oh, blenders! It really helps having a Vitamix or a BlendTec blender. Those can puree whole vegetables and fruits in seconds. I spent more time cutting up my vegetables and slowly feeding them to my old standard blender.
I will discuss some other add-ins a little later like Cacao, Hemp, Maca, and Goji Berries when I fill you in on Superfoods.
Here are recipes:This one was given to me which was clipped out of the newspaper Pineapple Grape 1 cup Green Grapes 2 cups Pineapple 1 large handful Spinach 1 cup or more water Raw spinach has no flavor in smoothies, so it’s an easy way to get a big dose of green goodness. This one was really sweet for me, but tasty.
Cilantro Pineapple 2/3 small Pineapple Entire bunch of Cilantro 6 full leaves Romaine Again a sweet one, but I want you to start with ones that will keep you wanting to drink your smoothie Blueberry basil 2 large handsful of blueberries 6-7 basil leaves 1 green apple 1 large cucumber 1/3 cup parsley 2 cups red leaf lettuce loosely packed 2 cups spinach Juice of 1 lemon or 1 juicing orange Thumb nail size ginger root Water
Mint lime thyme 3 thyme sprigs 8 mint leaves Juice of 2 limes 1 green apple 3 stalks celery 1/3 cup parsley 2 cups spinach loosely packed ½ cucumber or 6 leaves of romaine
Rosemary raspberry 1 pt raspberries 10 grapes 2 large fresh tender rosemary sprigs 3 stalks celery 2 cups spinach ½ cucumber or 6 leaves of romaine Thumb nail size ginger root Juice of ½ lemon
Marjoram Acai beet 1 cup shredded fermented beets 1 portion frozen acai berry puree 4 marjoram sprigs 1 green apple 3 stalks celery 1/3 cup parsley 2 cups spinach loosely packed ½ cucumber or 6 leaves of romaine Thumb nail size ginger root Juice of 1 lime
Lemon balm orange Entire juice orange 5 lemon balm sprigs 1 green apple 3 stalks celery 1/3 cup parsley 2 cups spinach loosely packed ½ cucumber or 6 leaves of romaine Thumb nail size ginger root
Goji Pear 1 large handful Spinach 2 stalks Celery 1 small handful flat leaf Parsley 1 Pear ¼ cup Goji berries 3 – 4 Dates
Banana Mint 1 handful lettuce leaves 1 handful mint 2 bananas 1-2 cups water
Avocado Persimmon 3-4 stalks celery 2 ripe persimmons 1 avocado 1 handful of spinach 1 -2 cups water
I have exciting news to share with you! I am spreading my practice east to Lincoln Park and am accepting a limited number of patients. You can join me in a cozy room in Partners in Wellness at 1967 N. Dayton. The office is just 1 block west of Halsted and and just around the corner from Armitage.
If you’ve been looking for assistance on your path to wellness & health for your physical body and your emotional and mental self, call me today to chat about what we can achieve together.
Lisa is National Board Certified and a State Licensed Oriental Medicine practitioner with advanced training in fertility & women's health and emotional/psychospiritual treatment.
Outside of blending green smoothies these last few months, I’ve not spent much time in the kitchen. I started receiving weekly boxes of organic veggies from a local grocer this month, which has necessitated me to cook or at least assemble vegetables. Here’s one from this week:
2 small ears of corn 3 large leaves of kale 1 golden delicious apple 3 scallions A little extra onion 4 sprigs of thyme leaves 1 small container of tuna 1 tsp coconut oil
While corn boils, mince kale, scallion, apple and onion. Place kale into a bowl, pour the boiling water from the corn over kale and cover the bowl. Cut the corn kernels from the cobs, place them and the minced ingredients into a bowl. Add thyme leaves, salt, pepper. Drain the kale, mix into bowl of ingredients with a tsp of coconut oil. Incorporate tuna. Serve or chill for later.
Some people have buffet style religious beliefs I have buffet style detox beliefs! Or so it seems to be the case this summer. I started with an herbal colon and liver cleanse without altering diet; the herbs didn’t agree with my colon though it still was detoxifying (see post from June). Since I knew that 3 weeks wasn’t enough to cleanse as deeply as I needed, I met with Gina Laverde. Gina is raw 99% vegan, body ecology proponent, reiki master, consultant, mom/wife/greenie and so much more. She offered guidance and suggestions for cleansing the gut. Fermented foods. Yeah, that’s the stuff! We aren’t talking good ol’ german sauerkraut and pickles; we’re talking make-it-yourself kefir.
Gina offers a six week rejuvenation program during which she emailed daily mantras, encouragement, tips and recipes on weekdays. My first 10 days was ordering all the necessary items, getting a colonic, slowly incorporating detox spa treatments, and concocting vegetable smoothies. She continued to check in and ask where I was in the process and what I experienced. She is definitely a partner in your rejuvenation. She offers her program ongoing, so you can also try what I am experiencing.
I haven’t been a smoothie person. I like them when they are in front of me; I just think making them takes extra effort and cleaning. As I add chopped veggies and fruit to a bowl to blend I think, “why don’t I just eat these as a salad?” But I make the smoothies as directed. I assume blending them makes the nutrients more bioavailable on a cellular level as well as conserving digestive energy by breaking it down for the stomach. After a couple weeks, I begin adding veggies to the blender I generally have no interest in eating so I know my body is asking for what it needs – celery, red pepper, or carrots. Every once in a while for a little variety I add in some guanabana or tamarind pulp (no sugar slightly sour fruits).
Also in those initial ten day, I buy a loofah for dry skin exfoliation – stimulates the lymphatic system and opens up the skin to eliminate toxins. I buy more castor oil since I will be applying castor oil packs (also in a previous post) a few days weekly, not monthly as usual. I admit I had difficulty fitting this in to my day and sometimes I would just massage castor oil onto my abdomen. The heated castor oil packs will stimulate the Liver and Gallbladder detoxification. I buy some green clay which will absorb toxins as they move down and out through the intestines. These are considered spa treatments if you didn’t catch that.
I visited Wendy Beyer in Lincoln Park for my first colonic. Our phone exchange was calming, we connected about biking. I was a little nervous because my previous at-home DIY experience elicited vomiting so I wasn’t sure what would happen in a professional setting. All went well. She took extra time and slowly began the process as well as challenged and guided me. If you are in Chicago, I highly recommend scheduling colon hydrotherapy with Wendy. The little neighborhood she works in is home to at least 2 other hydrotherapists and each practice has its own style, so if you are looking for just the colon cleanse without all the hulabaloo about nutrition, supplements, raw food, or disease, Wendy could be for you.
My kefir starter arrived from Body Ecology within a couple weeks of meeting with Gina. The Coco-biotic was on backorder. Coco-biotic is a naturally effervescent fermented coconut water drink. I purchased chlorella from Mercola. I chose chlorella over other algae because it nourishes the yin and I definitely needed that. My lungs were dry from biking and in general, my yin is a little depleted. Gina offers great resources for algae and probiotic brands she has seen success with in her own healing process.
I biked over to a Thai grocer and picked up a case of young coconuts. The young ones are the white cone top shaped ones. Now I know. I am making coconut kefir which consists of the kefir starter and the water/juice from 9 coconuts! The kefir contains significant number of strains of good bacteria. The fermented drink is cleansing and aids in digestion. I sterilized my mason jars, cracked open a few coconuts, and made kefir. It’s a good five day process for the entire case. And the mason jars multiply. Unfortunately my first attempt did not create good kefir and I was off to the grocer for another case! When it works, your fridge is full of fermented goodness (unless you live with someone who raises their eyebrows, then it is just crazy stuff). At first I had three large containers of kefir just sitting out fermenting and still fermenting when it dawned on me this kefir was going to be too powerful and I ran out to get another case of coconuts to keep making more. I had to get used to the ongoing process of buying a case of coconuts, whacking them open and making more kefir. It is a new thing to add to my life. I also scraped the meat out of half the coconuts and added some of the liquid kefir and made a tasty treat. I guess you could add more liquid to the fat rich coconut meat and make a thick kefir similar to a dairy version! You can add probiotic capsules to the coconut meat and have raw coconut yogurt, too.
Sometimes due to time constraints but wanting to stay true to the tenet of fermenting, I experimented with my own version of Gina’s recipes. I couldn’t recall the ingredients of her fermented beets so I just winged it. Not what she probably had in mind, but they were slightly fermented with coconut kefir! I was supposed to make a massive batch and use a dry package of kefir starter, not the liquid coconut kefir. O well they still ended up fermented. Fermenting helps with the digestive and the cleansing process. Raw cruciferous veggies and sweet root veggies take much energy to breakdown, fermenting those and also fermenting oils helps your body absorb the nutrients. I can ferment anything my body deems difficult to digest and it will no longer be difficult to digest after fermentation.
I realized the ordering snafus and kefir making mistakes and some really complicated weekly schedules here and there I experienced meant that this detox would fill my entire summer and that some of these changes would be integrated as a lifestyle change.
I continue with my supplements.
Maca, Peruvian gingeng, a tonic for the endocrine system. Taking one supplement for the whole shebang is a lot less stressful than taking a tonic for each endocrine organ!
Maitake mushroom will boost the immune system.
Probiotics
And I play with the detox herbal formula from my previous colon and liver cleanses. It has good stuff in it; I just can’t handle the heat from the habanero.
Add in the chlorella and seaweeds
I drink shots of Coco-biotic at work; I keep eating green smoothies; I slowly eliminate most, not all, carbs and sugar in the form of bakery cookies, breads, and sweet treats. I didn’t have cravings but I would allow myself the best of the best occasionally, not just any sweet wheat treat. I eliminated all fat in the second month…I had no sugar, coffee or wine cravings so I hoped the once monthly craving for cheese pizza would disappear. Early on had weeks of nineteen hour days and was unable to make meals at home other than a morning smoothie. I love breakfast food – oatmeal, granola, fruit, and nuts - and I did occasionally have oatmeal or nuts and raisins for breakfast and take the smoothie for lunch.On the busy days I would grab a salad; and in the first few weeks, I indulged in a burger and a beer; a hot dog and nachos; and a pizza! Most evenings I was so happy to chop up some veggies, lemon and garlic, cook or sprout quinoa or boil up some bean thread, mix it with a little miso paste and sit down to dinner.Surprisingly despite my normally high intake of vegetable eating prior to the smoothies, those pureed veggies in the smoothies were more filling and got the detox started. In the first few weeks, I’d get logey within a couple hours after a huge (32 oz) smoothie. Not hungry, not thirsty, just loopy and tired. Sure signs of detoxing.
I had a clear plan of my six week window of rejuvenating. The universe had other ideas and luckily I went with the flow. The nearly 2 weeks it took to receive the ordered supplies prepped me physically and mentally for the weeks to come. A month into the process, my liver kicked in. I was so aggravated and annoyed that the process wasn’t going “as planned” and complained I wanted warm, heated up food and then I had some PMS symptoms. Lisa’s got Liver qi! I laughed. Yes, the Liver is a little unruly and asserting itself, but knowing it is shedding toxins and the raw and fermented foods are also building the energywas enough for me to keep steady on the cleanse. So I would be cleansing til the end of Chicago summer. That’s ok. I’ve got a lifetime there’s no rush nothing I have to do instead.
