Showing posts with label Raw Foods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raw Foods. Show all posts

Friday, June 26, 2009

As A Survivor, I Had To Learn To Take Care of Myself

Today my blog went over the 200 mark with subscribers for the first time. Thanks to all of you who are reading my blog. I appreciate you and your comments.

As an incest survivor two of the things that I have had to learn to do are feel my emotions and take care of my body so that it doesn't get sick. Sometimes I do good with these two and sometimes I slip back into old habits of numbing feelings and ignoring how my body feels.

This week my emotions have been all over the place. Last night I went to an Al-Anon meeting and told everyone that I was mad, no, that should be "MAD" at the world. If you said hi to me this week, that was reason enough for me to get mad at you. I haven't figured out where all the anger is coming from yet but I know who my target was---my husband. How do I know? Two of my friends who never agree on anything both told me so. Also my exasperated husband finally asked why I was being so mean to him. I didn't say much to his yesterday because I knew the words would come out angry. I went to an Al-Anon meeting instead. At one point in the meeting last night, I told the group that me admitting that I was angry was such progress for me. I was taught as child that good girls don't get angry. That is such a bunch of bull. Getting angry is part of living. So is being sad, being happy, being hurt. I learned not to feel anything. My life was safer that way. That was one of my survival tools that no longer serves me today.

Part of this week, I have been overeating to not feel all of the rage that has been inside of me this week. My awareness of the emotions inside of me came from a dream. I think I have talked about what I call my fear of drowning dreams before. I have had these dreams for most of my adult life, maybe even as a child. In my dream of a few nights ago, I was in a car, possibly a limonsine with at least 3 other people. Someone else was driving. I was at the rear of the car when I saw water over the road in front of us. We didn't stop. Instead the driver drove off the side of the road and straight into the water. I remember being in the back of the car alone and thinking, "I can't swim." I sat and watched the water totally surround the car through the glass of the windows and a sun roof. Next the water is coming from the front of the car inside the car. Just before the water hit me full force, I woke up.

Something that was different in this dream was that I wasn't afraid when I woke up. I was disturbed. What I was was angry. I woke up at 4:00 a.m. from this dream. I didn't sleep well after that. What I remember about the dream is that while I was dreaming it, the dream felt more real than all of my other dreams.

I woke up from a dream the night after in which I remember talking about how real the drowning dream from the night before was, not that it seemed real but that it was real. I am not sure of the significance of that sensation of realness. I haven't experienced it very often.

Water, from a dream class that I took a few years ago, represents emotions. The car represents a part of myself. I wasn't driving it so I feel out of control of some part of my life. Duh. My emotions were out of control this week or at least it felt that way to me. I have gone into the water before but this is one of my first dreams in which I have gone under the water and not instantly waken myself up so some part of me is more comfortable with the emotions. I have worked really hard on feeling my emotions and still sometimes I numb out and stuff them with overeating. Still sometimes it takes me awhile to recognise what I am feeling. Sometimes it takes someone else to point out to me that I am angry (husband and two friends). Sometimes just saying that I am angry is enough to release it. Sometimes I need to talk about it to realize what is going on. As I have said before sometimes dreams can provide a source of healing for me.

This week I have been taking care of my body nutritionally by eating more raw veggies and less cooked veggies. I am also cutting the soy out of my diet because some sources say that soy isn't as good for us as the soy industry wants us to believe. I went to our Farmer's Market for the first time last Saturday. That is an education in itself. I met some interesting people.

I am also resting and not getting out in the heat until I feel better. I am also reading another book. This one is on "The Four Keys to Energizing Your Body, Mind & Spirit" (from the front cover of the book). The book is called Power Healing and is written by Dr. Zhi Gang Sha with a foreword by Dr. John Gray. I am learning ways to shift and harmonize the chi or energy in my body. I used one of the methods to lessen and then do away with a sinus headache that I have had the past few days all from balancing the energy in my body.

I have also been listening to Stephen Halpern's Chakra Suite when I go to bed at night to balance the chakras. All of this is helping me to self-heal rather than self-medicate my body.

One article that I read online a few days ago has some really good tips on paying attention to and taking care of your body. I want to share that site with you. The name of the blog is Rejuvenation Lounge.
http://thehealthylivinglounge.com/2009/06/23/24-ways-to-give-your-body-the-extra-attention-it-deserves/ . Check it out for the valuable information that the article provides.
Patricia

Related Articles:
A Week Of Introspection: http://patriciasingleton.blogspot.com/2008/11/week-of-introspection.html

Fear Is My Friend: http://patriciasingleton.blogspot.com/2009/01/fear-is-my-friend.html

Being Honest With Myself: http://patriciasingleton.blogspot.com/2007/06/being-honest-with-myself.html

How Dreams Can Help You Heal From Childhood Sexual Abuse: http://patriciasingleton.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-dreams-can-help-you-heal-from.html

Dreams Can Teach Us About Ourselves: http://patriciasingleton.blogspot.com/2007/06/dreams-can-teach-us-about-ourselves.html

Raw Salad Dressings: http://patriciasingleton.blogspot.com/2008/11/raw-salad-dressings.html

Link Love And Raw Foods: http://patriciasingleton.blogspot.com/2009/01/link-love-and-raw-foods.html

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Link Love And Raw Foods

Hi. I hope everyone is having a glorious day. Sorry if you are tired of hearing me say that but glorious is one of my favorite words. I have had a glorious day myself.

I have been, most of the afternoon, on my computer playing catch-up with all of the blogs that I want to read but haven't had the time lately to do. What blogs have I been reading?

Stephen Hopson at http://www.adversityuniversityblog.com/

Phillip McCluskey at http://www.lovingraw.com/


Liara Covert at http://www.dreambuilders.com.au/


Lance at http://www.jungleoflife.com/


Teresa Silverthorn of Confessions of a Mystic at http://teresasilverthorn.wordpress.com/


Matt Monarch of Raw Success at http://mattmonarch.blogspot.com/

Dinesh of Spiritual Drifts from The River of Karma at http://driftings.blogspot.com/

Stephen Hopson does these interviews of other bloggers that I just love but haven't been able to keep up with lately. The interviews are brilliantly done by Stephen with a set of questions that he has the person being interviewed answer. Some of his questions really put the person in the hot seat. For example, Stephen asks the person what their dark side is like. I also like Stephen's gratitude articles that he does most Friday afternoons. They inspire me to remember to be grateful and be a better person for it.

Stephen is also the person that is responsible for me deciding to change my eating habits to eating raw foods again. On his blog, Stephen recommended a book by Natalia Rose called "The Raw Food Detox Diet". I bought and read that book plus a second one by Natalia called "Raw Food Life Force Energy." I started reading these books before Thanksgiving and sampled some of the recipes. My efforts were only half-hearted. I wasn't ready to give up my coffee, hot soups, cheese and bread yet. I still haven't completely. At Thanksgiving, with family visiting my house, I didn't eat any raw foods, not even the salad that I made because my brother-in-law doesn't consider it a meal if you don't have a salad on the table. The result was I ate too much of foods that I knew weren't good for me. As soon as everyone went home from Thanksgiving, I got a really bad allergy attack. It might have been bought on by the corn bread dressing that I ate. I am allergic to corn.

Two weeks ago after reading Stephen's blog articles about his own raw food journey and also checking out other sites that are written by raw foodists, I decided to make a commentment to go at least 80% raw in my diet. Today as I sat at my computer cutting up vegetables for a big salad, I sat and listened to videos on raw eating that Stephen sent me to in one of his articles. You can find these videos at the following website of Philip McCluskey at Loving Raw:
http://www.lovingraw.com/vide-series/ . While you are visiting the site, check out Philip's blog on his amazing 200 pound weight loss eating raw foods. I just started reading Philip's blog today.

Here is a list of some of the books on raw foods that I now have in my library in my home:

The Raw Food Gourmet, Going Raw for Total Well-Being, written by Gabrielle Chavez

The Raw Truth --- The Art of Preparing Living Foods --- , written by Jeremy A. Safron

The Raw Gourmet, written by Nomi Shannon

Living in the Raw Gourmet, written by Rose Lee Calabro

Green For Life, written by Victoria Boutenko

Rawsome, Maximizing Health, Energy, and Culinary Delight with the Raw Foods Diet, written by Brigitte Mars

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw, written by Mark Reinfeld, Bo Rinaldi, and Jennifer Murray

Here is one on Juicing:

Juicing for Life, A Guide to the Health Benefits of FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLE JUICING, written by Cherie Calbom, M. S. and Maureen Keane, M. S., C. N.

Here are two on Sprouting:

The Sprout Garden, The Indoor Grower's Guide to Gourmet Sprouts, written by Mark M. Braunstein

The Complete Sprouting Cookbook, written by Karen Cross Whyte (I have had this book a long time and it does actually cook most of the recipes but it gives me information about sprouting that is useful.)

My favorite book is Green For Life. It has some delicious smoothie recipes in the back of the book that will keep me experimenting for a long time. It also contains information on nutrition that I haven't read before.

Deb Estep of the blog Deb_Inside has given me some link love today with an article that she wrote about my article "Kindness---Why Is It Easier To Be Kind To Strangers?" Thanks, Deb, you are truly one of the kindest people that I know online. Her article called "Stop Shooting Arrows - Words" is found at:
http://deb_inside.typepad.com/deb_inside/2009/01/stop-shooting-arrows-words.html.

I have gotten some really good comments on my article that you can click on the following link and read:
http://patriciasingleton.blogspot.com/2009/01/kindness-why-is-it-easier-to-be-kind-to.html .

Thanks to all of my commenters on my blog. I am truly grateful to you. Your comments add more richness to my articles with your humor and your wisdom.
Patricia

Friday, November 21, 2008

Raw Salad Dressings

With Thanksgiving coming up next week, I wanted to share my idea of a raw salad dressing with you. I have tried one salad dressing called Liquid Gold Elixir from page 102 of The Raw Food Detox Diet and I didn't like it. It called for lemon juice, garlic cloves, ginger, soy sauce, raw honey and olive oil. To me the lemon and soy sauce were too strong of a taste. I don't really care that much for oil and vinegar salad dressings and the taste of this one was similar to that. I like Ranch salad dressing on my salads. On page 113 of The Raw Food Detox Diet there is a recipe for Raw Ranch Dressing but I haven't tried to make it yet.

I started experimenting and came up with the following recipe with avocados that I especially like. That is the fun part of eating raw---experimenting with new ways of combining foods.

Avocado Salad Dressing:

In a blender, combine the following ingredients and Pulse until well blended.
2 avocados
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup water
1 teaspoon (or to taste) McCormick Lemon and Herb Seasoning
6 Tablespoons (more or less to suit your taste) honey

Store in the refrigerator. You can also add any other herbs that you like. So far, I have added dill weed and celery seeds.

Avocados are good and good for you. I am working to include more raw foods into my diet. Stephen Hopson from Adversity University ( http://www.adversityuniversityblog.com/2008/11/20/end-of-the-week-gratitude-theme-53/ )has been my inspiration for including more raw foods into my diet.

The Singleton clan is coming to our house for Thanksgiving. They haven't been here in two years for Thanksgiving so the house is getting a thorough reorganizing and cleaning. I am looking forward to their visit. I am still making the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner for everyone else. I will eat my salads and raw veggies and fruits along with a Quorn meatless and soy-free turk'y roast that I bought for myself. With The Raw Food Detox Diet, I can still have the turk'y roast as long as I eat it for supper. Natalia Rose uses food combining in her book. I was already familiar with the concept of food combining from years ago.

To all of my American readers, I wish for you a glorious Thanksgiving Day with family and friends.
Patricia

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Raw Food Diet Adventure

Recently Stephen Hopson of Adversity University has been on a raw food diet. I have experiemented with eating sprouts and raw foods myself in the past. I even took a class just before Christmas last year. The food was wonderful. I just didn't stick with it.

Some of you know that I have been a vegetarian for about 11 years. You might ask what is the difference between being a vegetarian and eating raw foods. Being a vegetarian, I cook most of my foods just like all of you meat eaters. I love soups in just about any form, especially in the fall and winter months.

Well, reading Stephen's articles on his raw food adventure has inspired me to give eating raw foods another look. The book that Stephen used and I bought a copy of this past week is
The Raw Food Detox Diet
written by Natalia Rose. The subtitle to the book says "The Five-Step Plan For Vibrant Health and Maximum Weight Loss." Natalia Rose is a "nutritionist and founder of the Raw Food Detox Weight Loss Program."

I love that I can go on the internet and research any topic that comes to mind and find information that is useful. I did that with Raw Foods. I found and also purchased two DVD's to use for inspiration and information in this new journey.

The DVD Simply Raw, Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days
"chronicles six Americans with diabetes who switch to a diet consisting entirely of vegan, organic, live, raw foods in order to reverse diabetes naturally. The participants are challenged to give up meat, diary, sugar, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, soda, junk food, fast food, processed food, and even cooked food - as well as go without their loved ones and many of their creature comforts - for 30 days. The results are amazing." (The above quote came from the back of the DVD cover.) After watching the DVD, I was inspired.

The second DVD that I purchased, I haven't finished watching yet. It is called
Raw For Life, The Ultimate Encyclopedia Of The Raw Food Lifestyle.
This is a two disc set that includes interviews of 30 experts.

I am still reading The Raw Food Detox Diet. I also bought another book by Natalia Rose called Raw Food Life Force Energy and a book by Jeremy A. Safron called The Raw Truth The Art of Preparing Living Foods.

As you can see, I have a lot of reading ahead of me. That is how I always approach live. I love the search for knowledge. I never approach any new endeavor half-heartedly. I love digging in and finding new information. I read somewhere that it is a trait of most Saggittarians.

I have also subscribed to several raw food newsletters this week. One of those that Stephen recommended is called Raw Success written by Matt Monarch and found at http://mattmonarch.blogspot.com/ .

You can find Stephen Hopson's articles on his own raw food adventure at the following links:

Update on the Raw Food 30-Day Experiment
http://www.adversityuniversityblog.com/2008/10/08/update-on-the-raw-food-30-day-experiment/

Raw Food Journey: Let's Clear Up Some Myths
http://www.adversityuniversityblog.com/2008/10/12/raw-food-journey-lets-clear-up-some-myths/

End of the Week Gratitude Theme #50
http://www.adversityuniversityblog.com/2008/10/24/end-of-the-week-gratitude-theme-50/

Be sure to check out Stephen's articles.

I am not going to eat 100% raw foods. That is not my goal. For me that just isn't a factor right now. I love my coffee and soups too much. I also love cheese. I will reduce the amounts right now. Cheese is just about the only dairy that I do still eat with an occasional ice cream. I use goat milk in my coffee because I am lactose-intolerant. I know how cheese affects me and I still choose to eat it. I will begin to substitute goat cheese more for the dairy cheese but I don't see myself totally giving up cheese at this point. That could change in the future. Natalia Rose does not make going 100% raw a requirement of her diet. For most of us, that is totally unrealistic, at least in the beginning. I am going to ease into this change. I am looking forward to making some of the recipes in her book.

Like Stephen, I will keep you posted with my changes. As of this morning, I have already lost one and one-fourth pounds from just one day on the diet. I had Stephen's Favorite Green Smoothie drink yesterday and today. You will find his recipe for this in the last link above. My kitchen is stocked with a huge salad that I made yesterday and lots of other fruits and veggies to be consumed over the next few days.

I hope that all of you are having a really great day. The Autumn weather we have been experiencing here in Arkansas lately has been invigorating. Autumn is my favorite season.
Patricia