Day 4 of the 21 Day Raw Food Challenge...Have you picked your own edible wild grasses and weeds? I have!!

Hey there,
I'm sitting here after the most productive morning in a while. Getting dressed, taking a walk with the dogs, taking a bike ride, watering all my plants, picking wild edibles (YES I did), cleaning up the house and making a GREEEN juice!

Oh yeah I said it. I picked weeds (Dandelion) from my lawn and grasses from my backyard and ATE them. I learned how to pick wild edibles by a video on the the raw food world tv show. google it, it is awesome! My energy is soaring from just a couple sips! It just shows me that humans are meant to forage for wild foods to sustain them not buy foods at a grocery store!!! The juice is very strong but I will be getting used to it because i'm looking forward to many more days of picking my own food..so cool!

The challenge is going VERY well! I've had some emotion detox so far. Yesterday I could see as plain as day that I use food as a crutch! It hit me while sitting in the family room. I had eaten hours before and yet I was Not hungry and I felt completely satisfied and yet something felt empty almost as if I wish I were hungry so that I could eat and supress feelings that I was having. Instead of eating I looked within. I asked myself why I was feeling vulnerable.
What I discovered was a little scary but enlightening...
I think I like when things are easy, calm and stagnant though for so many years I fooled myself into thinking I was one that loved adventures and change!
I like being in a rut...doing the same things every day because I feel SAFE. Even the friends I have are the same friends I've had for at least 4 years. I don't put myself out there because I'm afraid of rejection. I need to love myself more and not say...well i'll love myself when ____(fill in the blank). Each day I will not self loath myself or make comments in my head to put myself down. When these thoughts pop up I will replace them with positive ones! I know that I have had many years of abuse. Some say that abuse must be physical but I have grown up with a lot of emotional abuse.
My dad always would try to shield me from the world and from anything new, different or difficult. He would say things like, "It's too dark to drive now", "You can't handle taking that many classes", "That is too extreme, don't try that", "I'll bring you there, you'll get lost", "Don't apply for that job, it's too hard". I formed a lot of anxieties as a child and into adulthood. Fear seemed to paralyze me and guilt would bulley me.
My mom would always encourage me to try strange and wacky things. Even things I felt very uncomfortable doing. I'm sure now you can see the pull of war in my mind and soul. She also was always looking for something better, because to her the present was never good enough. She went on so many quests to find her perfect diet or her perfect body. Determined that by hating the current she would be rewarded with a fantastic future.
I guess you could say I now have a little of both of these views. It isn't always easy to tell myself that it's ok to try new things and not to be afraid of change but also that I am beautiful the way I am and that I don't need to change myself to please myself or others!

I am a success! I am wonderful! I am strong! And....SO are YOU!

Have a great day!
Rawkn yogini~

Juicy Baby Juicy!

Juice FEAST day 5
Such an exciting feeling! I have been LOVING drinking juice. I have NO food cravings! In fact, I barely even think about food or even juices! I feel like a brand new car. Just like a car that you put gas in when your fuel tank is on empty, I put in some juice when I am genuinely hungry, I am satisfied and I move about my day. Days are flying by...I never realized how much energy and time I was putting into eating until these past few days. Juice is so fast and simple, no menu planning or food combing or cravings. I feel full of energy and light and excited about each and every day! In the beginning (the first day) it was very emotional for me to give up my attachment to food. I also no longer had foods to suppress emotions. Juice was so light that I couldn't hide from myself. Well I have found myself and I feel content and happy!

Here is a crazy but true story about my day today! As usual I wake up and have a cup of warm lemon water to help wake up my digestive system. I am sitting at my kitchen table when my dad comes walking into the house. He has just come home from a coffee and bagel shop that he goes to every morning at 6:30am, practically when they open their doors, to get his daily bagel (refined sugar and cooked carbs) and strong caffeine rich coffee. He comes home irritable and on edge with a plastic bag in his hand. He starts to take the items out of the bag containing a bag of flavored chips, 2 boxes of movie style candy, half dozen bagels, and some yellow mustard. I think to myself, "Why did he buy all that junk food?" I go to make my first juice of the day-Cantaloupe....mmm yumm. My dad has already finished his bag of chips and before I sit down to enjoy my juice, he begins to make a bagel. I ask him if he is truly hungry and he tells me he has only had a bagel and bag of chips. I enjoy my juice and keep my thoughts to myself. I go upstairs and get dressed up because...
My friend got married today!!! I went to her wedding and she looked absolutely gorgeous. She looked like Bridal Barbie!! Congratulations April and Eddie!!
I enjoyed that thoroughly and came home to make my mom and I a lunch juice around 1pm. Kale, pear, and ginger! My goodness was that good! My dad sits down to have his lunch. Bow ties and Kasha (toasted buckwheat). I ask him after he has finished if he feels satisfied. He responds as he scrapes the bottom of his bowl for the last drop, "I'm never satisfied". He says it in a sarcastic matter of fact almost proud "I'm a real man" way as he puts his bowl in the sink and looks for something else to fulfill his incredible "appetite". My mom and I both look at each other as we sip our GREEN juices with delight! We both think of the same thing, cooked food never satisfies you because your body never truly gets the nutrients that it needs to function. As you continue to give your body food that it cannot easily use for fuel and for healing, it continues to give you a signal to eat and eat and eat. You never feel satisfied.
This is such a depressing way of living isn't it?

Moral of the story...If you want each day to feel full of adventures and excitement and less about what to eat next try to transition to a RAW and living food diet. Maybe even start your day with a juice!?

JUICES are so delicious and I can't wait to see where this journey will take me!

Have a Juicy Day,
Rawkn Yogini~

Juice FEAST Day 2

Hey everyone,
I made it through another Juicy day! I cannot believe how easy it was for me today. I had no food cravings and my thoughts were on my day instead of what to eat next or when I would be able to find time to "eat". Drinking juice is simple. You drink juice when you are hungry and you feel satisfied and you move on. NEXT!
My mom made me a delicious juice this morning consisting of:
orange
cranberries
mango

I had a Nutritional Biochemistry final, went holiday shopping, dropped off some paperwork and then had my lunch juice
Parsley
Apple
spinach
orange


came home and took my puppies for a nice walk and went shopping with my mom
snack juice was
pineapple
mango
strawberry
orange
SOOOO Goood!

Dinner juice around 7:30pm was a greeeeen juice
Parsely
Orange
Spinach
Apple

My skin feels better already and my eyes are bright and clear...28 more days and my whole body might glow...we shall see!

LOVE,
Rawkn Yogini