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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Alkiline vs Acid

This is very educational on veggies & fruits. Everyone knows that they are are good for you, blah blah blah… so what? It doesn’t make them any more attactive to eat. This is quite boring and something our parents made us do without our will sometimes.

Here is a piece of information that may give you a quick scientific explanation on what exactly veggies & fruits do to your body. After hours of research online, this was a great summerized find and my turning point and I am happy to share it with you! The website is : http: //www.herbsarespecial.com.au and you can find more info there if you wish:

The foods we eat are either, predominantly, acid or alkaline. Foods create an acid or alkaline state in the body, after digestion. These classifications do not refer to how food tastes to the palate. It does refer to the chemical nature of ash residues.

Alkaline and alkalising foods include all sprouted seeds, most vegetables and salad greens (particularly asparagus, watercress, cucumbers, fresh peas and beans, lettuce, parsley and other culinary herbs, onions, carrots, celery, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and other brassicas); fruits (particularly lemons, lime, oranges, pineapples, kiwi fruit, cherries, strawberries, melons, paw paws, apples, apricots, avocadoes); raw goat and cows milk, whey, kefir, yoghurt, and herbal teas.

Acid producing foods are generally concentrated sources of starch and protein and contain more acidproducing minerals than alkaline, and include meats, refined sugar and grains, like cereals, canned, cooked and processed foods. Tea, coffee, soft drinks, beer, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, refined common table salt, and man-made processed foods are acid producing and cannot adequately regenerate human cells. Stressful situations and negative emotions like anger, hate, depression, jealousy, etc, may be acid producing in the body; while positive emotions of happiness, kindness, etc, will help build an alkaline environment. Generally all seeds, grains, legumes and nuts are acidic, unless they are sprouted. When the seeds are soaked, and they swell and break the hull (skin) to emerge as a sprout, an extraordinary action takes place & they become alkaline.




A way must be made to rid the body of acidic wastes, so that it can be alkaline again. By eating alkaline-rich foods we will gradually reduce the acid state. It is most advisable to increase alkaline foods, especially sprouts, drink plenty of water, practise deep breathing, deal with stress levels and get adequate sleep. It is the alkalinity of the blood and body tissues that provides a state of health and strong resistance to disease. Therefore, we need to concentrate 75-80% of our daily food as alkaline forming, providing the alkaline-forming minerals to neutralise the acid wastes produced by 20-25% acid foods and numerous acid-producing stresses in our daily life. An alkaline body is a clean system that is able to play a vital role in maintaining natural immunity and optimum health.

This is one of the main reasons why we should incorporate more veggies & fruits into our diets!
Happy chewing everyone!

One more important termin to learn is Enzyme which is


Any of numerous proteins or conjugated proteins produced by living organisms and functioning as biochemical catalysts. All Mammals - including Human Beings - and many other living creatures, require Enzymes for ALL cellular function. No Enzymes = no life.


There is a theory which says humans have a given amount of Enzymes (like women have all their eggs at birth), that we MUST consume Enzymes to survive and prosper. Enzymes come from raw and living foods. Eating raw and living foods provides us with these vital proteins. Eating dead food uses our body's limited store of Enzymes. Eat More Sprouts!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Not so Happy Rawfood Day..

Our daddy is back in the family after a busy school week and Katya is overexcited, mommy’s too. We went to the Philippi Pumpkin Fest expecting a lot of fun but it turned out to be right under the hot Floridian sun; and the working crew at the carousel, we thought, was already drunk at 10am. The party that’s happening at the Caviche Club late tonight should to be more fun though. Can’t wait to dress up in our German outfits and put enormous amount of makeup on my face!

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Raw morning wasn’t that pleasant today. I was anxiously waiting for my juice and, having a lot of bean sprouts in the fridge, knowing how good they are and how quickly they get spoiled, I decided to put them all into my juice and no sweet veggies like carrots or beets or watermelon. So my juice was so nasty that I couldn’t stand it. I made my hubby have a sip and he booted it all out  I can still remember that taste! The lesson here: make sure you I don’t put too much of bean sprouts in one juice. As mush as it’s delicious in salad, pad thai, etc, the pure juice of it is not at all. Just my opinion.

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Btw, as I was saying earlier, I do not stay on pure raw diet yet. First, I am not used to be 100% raw. Secondly it’s a very slow process for me and I am not even sure I’ll be able to become 100% raw. This is the option that works for me without making this experience unpleasant. So of things that I’m not supposed to be eating, I did eat 2 pieces of chiken nuggets yesterday (Thanks to Michelle’s Halloween party for the kids) - they were extraordinary. I also had coffee before noon and a glass of white wine at night with like 10 ice cubes. I like to unwind on Fridays! What’s amazing is how quickly our human body responses to changes. One glass of wine was more than enough for a whole night where before I was in need of about 3 glasses! While you may think, oh she’s talking about 2 pieces of chicken nuggets!.. common, it’s nothing! But believe it or not YOU GET FUL SO QUICKLY, It’s unreal!

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Out of the subject line, I’d like to share with the local “Sarasoteans”, that the new Produce store in Golf Gate is awesome! I go there every week now and buy a huge bag of different veggies and it costs me about $20 where in whole foods I’d spend at least $60..

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Almond Balls Raw Dessert

Proud to say, I came up with a delicious raw dessert! My toddler is in love with it and I'm trying hard not to eat all of it. It consists of 3 ingredients: whole grain cheerios crashed, just a little bit, wheatgrass sprouts crashed and almond butter. You mix it all up, create little balls and cover them in coconut flakes! I do need to come up with a name for it. If you have any ideas, pls let me know! Here is the picture:



Yes, you need to grow the sprouts before. But since it's really easy and you can put them in any meal, this powerful nutrition, you can just keep growing them on weekly basis. It's EXTREMLY easy, just wash the seeds and put them in a close wet environment. Here is the video on how to do it.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

First Two Weeks

First 2 weeks without processed starches and sugar!

First two weeks have been very eventful for my body! First 2 days have been unbearable, in fact. I've been constantly hungry and decided to just keep eating. However, "keep eating" meant any fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, or anything of that nature, none of the sugar I am used to. I had dry fruits and nut bars as a dessert substitution. So I had a terrible sugar withdrawal - my hardest thing to do. I had a LOT of avocado in my salads to feel up my belly. Most importantly, I've been having 2 glasses of freshly made veggie juice everyday. I decided to stay away from caw's milk, too.

On a 3rd day, I couldn't believe my discoveries! In my 34 years of life, I've never paid this much attention to my body. I did think my stomach is a sensitive one but I didn't put the pieces together to say: Wow I am milk intolerant! I should NOT drink caw'smilk ever again b/c without it I feel GREAT! Probably, it's all the things above I've done, that made me feel much better, but I woke up on that 3rd morning and my stomach wasn't bloated as usual as long as I can remember myself. I just had my natural stored little fat but no bloating at all. It felt great!

This feeling is what keeps me going on more or less the same diet for 2.5 weeks now.

I have to admit that I probably don't belong to any category of vegans or raw foodists since I cheat all over! :) For instance, I do rush in the morning to make my first veggie juice, it testes so good. Then a little later, I do have a cup of coffee which is no no for a raw foodist. I do try some meats or fish if it's too testy, but just a little piece, and I like cheese, just a little bit. However, my stomach shrunk so much that I eat much less, get full much faster and don't have big cravings anymore. One more thing. Being a wine addict, especially red one, I don't crave it any more. I don't even like the taste! We went to a Halloween party last weekend and I kept diluting one glass of white wine with water during the whole party and crunching on veggies at the table. I cannot believe I am actually talking about myself!

Learning about what each food does to your body did certainly change my habits for now. I can't promise to stay this way forever, but I'll try.... because it feels great.

Weight control. Well, I've been steadily loosing little by little and I lost all the pounds I gained in Russia, YEAY! Strangely enough, since I lost 4 lbs in these 2 weeks my weight stopped dropping in the last few days. Not sure why, but it's OK as long as I am feeling good.. So from 130 to 126, it didn't happen to me to see 126 on a scale for at least 8 years!

My First Ever Blogging!


...just started blogging in another place and didn't like it. trying out this site now, moving my only 2 posts here, here is the 1st..

I have no idea where to begin as this is my first time going WWW with my fleeting thoughts. Forgive for all the future grammar mistakes as this is my 3rd language and I am still learning it. Julie & Julia movie actually inspired me to write hoping to find some people like me who are trying to go "raw" and "cheating all over the place" along the way.

My first encounter with the raw food diet was in my back yard. My neighbor Joe was attending to some greens at the back of our townhouses. We have no yard - just grass and the ocean a few yards away, but he was very skillfully taking care of many trays of (I found out later) wheatgrass and sun flower seed sprouts. Turns out, he was very sick a year ago and had an option of taking a lot of medicine or trying an unconventional way - Hippocrates Health Institute. A year later, he is very healthy and 80% of his diet is raw veggies juices and sprouts.

I started researching about this stuff and my discoveries were overwhelming. I couldn't wait any longer and ordered my wheatgrass kit with the juicer. I figured I could try and grow that too and have it as a supplement to our diets. Then we travelled in the summer. One month in Russia was lots of fun but didn't help my body health at all. My relatives there have unbelievable cult of meals. All we did was preparing delicious meals and cleaning the dishes. I was back home with 3 extra pounds. You may think is she kidding?! only 3 lbs? Well, it's a lot for me. Everyone has limits, and even though I am not a big person generally, I was concerned as I couldn't loose them at all. First time ever. I did like having a little dessert everyday, but I always had it and managed to flactuate a few lbs up and down, but not this time. Having no incentives to loose weight doesn't help either. Even my beautiful husband or my modeling hobby didn' help. I started looking around for some new incentives and was so glad to learn about raw foodists coming into town with lecture. Basically that was my turning point. I've learned more from the lecture how meats and diary treat our bodies, about processed foods and starches, etc and I couldn't go back to my old routine, I felt it was too mean to do it to my body.
I started from buying several snacks at the lecturers' shop. It was $60 for only a few snacks, everything is as organic and raw as can be, but I figured I have to learn more ways of going raw as this way will be too expensive!

This is how I started my journey towards a better healthier well being. I do not call it a diet. I've never gone on a diet, restriction means I have to have it so the diets never worked for me and I am scared of that word. Changing my life style to improve my health and well being, increase my happiness and satisfaction, this is what this journey is about and nothing less.

night night for now..