Thirsty Thursday takes on a whole new meaning!

Hi everyone,
I'm sure the title of this blog took you back to your college days. You probably remembered that as Thursday night rolled around, your college campus would come alive with drinking parties, late night pizza slices, and embarrassing morning after pictures and ill feelings. This is known as a SAD diet by Raw foodists. This both because you feel sad and emotion eating this way and because it stands for Standard American Diet. I was reminded of these things when reminiscing with an old friend who remembered nicknames we would give cheap disgusting beer brands and people we would text or call at 3 in the morning to tell about our adventures. This made me think about something crazy! College kids are living toxic-super unhealthy lives despite being at the prime time of their lives. College students are ages 17-23 years old and most are drinking several nights a week, eating junk food, getting no sleep, getting very little exercise, and having stressful sleepless nights! They are setting the stage for habits and behaviors that they will carry with them for the rest of their adult lives. What is happening here!? We should be climbing mountains, running marathons, protecting the planet, volunteering and loving life not ignoring it with toxic drugs and alcohol.

Thirsty Thursday for me was a hot sweaty yoga class followed by drinking ice cold water and having cold freshly squeezed orange juice. mmmm yummy.
This bog is dedicated to my college friends who want a couple recipes for healthy, delicious raw foods that will fill them up with nutrients and energy instead of toxins and regret.

Salsa:
1 large tomato, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
juice of 1/2 a lemon
pinch of salt and ground black pepper
Mix in bowl and enjoy!

Guacamole:
1 avocado, mashed
1/2 tomato, diced
1/2 green pepper
1/2 jalapeno, finely diced (don't touch your eyes)
1/2 lemon, juiced
pinch of salt and ground black pepper
Mix and serve!

Enjoy these two delicious simple recipes with a green salad...I love mixed greens, spinach or boston lettuce!

If you come over I'll whip this up for you! Hey I might already have it made-it is my staple food!

Eat well and Be well!
Rawkn Yogini~

Looking Forward but staying in the present

Hello again,
I hope you enjoyed that story from yesterday as much as I did!
Today is *monday* and it is the beginning of a new and exciting week filled with challenges.
But bring em' on!
I have several things going on at school. The biggest "thing" is a huge Nutritional Biochemistry exam. I am determined to educate and enlighten myself so that I am prepared to WOW my teacher on Wednesday afternoon when I take my exam! I think I can I think I can! lol.

Also with this challenge also comes a fantastic reward. I will be meeting and listening to my two idols, Matt and Angela Stokes Monarch on Saturday in Maine. Not to mention, I will get to enjoy some delicious raw foods since it is a potluck, I will meet some awesome raw love bugs (people), spend the day with my mom, and RELAX. Woohoo for weekend excursions.

Now back to reality!
I had a friend from class today come to me about dry, irritated skin and hair. I told her about an excellent way to help this especially this time of year when most SAD people eat very little water rich produce and much more heavy dense foods. Anyone can benefit from this piece of advice that I gave her though, whether you are 100% raw or 2% raw.
Skin Brushing:
This is a gentle way to exfoliate your skin and move toxins out of your body through your lymphatic ducts.
The concept is simple. It requires a wooden bristle brush that you can purchase from almost any health food store or body shop.
You brush your arms, legs, shoulders, buttocks, chest, stomach toward your lymphatic ducts near your groin and armpits. your upper half you brush toward your armpits and your lower half you brush upward toward your inner thighs or groin.
In order to get a detailed picture of this just search for skin brushing in any search engine or on youtube.com
You will do this first thing in the morning BEFORE you take a shower!
This will even help with circulation and waking you up first thing in the morning!
Your skin will feel amazing and you may not even need lotion. But sure you drink lots of water to facilitate this toxin elimination.
I noticed a difference in my skin within just a few days!
I will keep you posted on my studying...Have a wonderful day
Rawkn Yogini~

Fabulous Weekend!

Hi everyone,
Yesterday may have been one of the most spectacular days I've had -at least in a month! lol! I started my rainy morning doing some light cleaning. I put on some yoga clothes strapped my yoga mat onto my shoulder and journeyed to my yoga studio to sweat out some toxins and brighten my mood and physical strength and flexibility! Woohoo! Yeehaaaww...

Then I spent the day with my mom and dad and a bunch of my friends at my studio owners fabulous home (with a gorgeous garden) for a real treat!
A living raw foods class all Day! From 1-6pm all we did was talk about raw and living foods and sample some delicious holiday themed dishes. Faux turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed "potatoes", mushroom gravy, pumpkin pie, carrot apple juice....Haha wow I ate all that!? I met some fantastic people. One person more amazing than the next. I especially loved those that had never eaten or heard of living foods. They loved the food and were so blown away that they were asking what type of knives and food processors they should go out and buy the next day!!!
But there was one guy that really inspired me...Here is his story!
He said that as a child and most of his adult life he resented his father who was a farmer. The man said he wanted to live a "better" life. When he was in his 20's, he was watching a television special on longevity-he was very skeptical of destiny and fate and often needed everything concrete and calculated for him to believe it. As he was watching this special, something told him to go down to the basement. As he walked down to the cellar of his house he felt compelled to open up a dusty book on his library shelf. He opened to a "random" page that read "How to live a long and healthy life". It was one of his father's farming books that talked about living the life of a farmer who gets to work and live off of his land and eat his own fresh produce. Well arrogantly he shut the book and went back up stairs. Little did he realize that that moment would come to him almost 20 years later. He became your typical 9-5 business man; eating cooked food and feeling totally detached from the world. Though he was living in a beautiful house and making money he didn't really FEEL his PURPOSE in life Nor did he feel any particular ENERGY to find it. One day his wife became fed up with the way "she" had been feeling for most of her life. In a quest to feel better she discovered raw living foods. As she adopted this foreign idea and way of eating so too did her husband. Before long the man started seeing his purpose much more clearly. He recalled that day in the basement and decided that he wanted to go back to his roots and become the farmer that he for so many years dismissed. He says he has found his path, his DESTINY. He no longer feels lost or lacking in energy. Everyday is a new adventure and piece of the puzzle. This man inspired me soo much. He was glowing with life and energy. EVERY raw person I have met has had a similar enlightenment. I can't believe I am apart of such an amazing movement!
I hope this story made your day as it did mine!

I made my mom some raw treats today including...
raw chocolate pudding!
Here's the basic recipe:

2 avocadoes-smashed
2 heaping tablespoons of cacao powder/carob powder
some agave

mix and enjoy!
Rawkn Yogini~