5 years high raw!!! (Celebrations part 1)

I have been delivering food to a friend in Makati since June 2015. She has had enough of poor health and is wanting to incorporate healthier food into her diet.

These are different from the mono meals which I eat most of the time, but they closely resemble foods a normal person would eat except that some allergens are taken out and the food is uncooked, and are a great introduction to eating healthy, so that the gourmet taste is still there and they are not at all boring. Because they are gourmet raw, they tend to be higher in fat due to the seeds and nuts.  I soak them in order to remove the enzyme inhibitors in the seeds/nuts and to make the nutrients more bioavailable. These resemble the foods I started eating five years ago, which jumpstarted my path to healing. They are raw, but prepared classically. All these provide the dishes a rich taste that people look for in regular food, but because of all the plants, feel lighter, even though the volume is bigger.

Here are sample menus I have planned for her:

1:  Banana green smoothie
     Zucchini pasta and live marinara
     Live lemon bars

2:  Pineapple malunggay green smoothie
     Spicy hand rolls and mango chutney
     Jicama rice

I am excited that she is taking an active role in her health and I am praying for breakthroughs for her! :)

Psalm 34:8

5 years high raw!!! (Celebrations part 1)

:)

Something's happening real soon! I'll keep you posted!

:)

Faith and Food

      Throw back Thursday! Faith and Food was a project Tasha worked on and invited me to participate in last year. I just want to disclose that around the time of the interview, I wasn't a hundred percent vegan, and like I mentioned a few posts back, the insomnia came back in 2014 when I wasn't following a hundred percent 80/10/10 and raw, and I bought a new smart phone. I started craving stuff that I hadn't eaten in a long time, for some reason. I told Tasha this and she said it was ok.

     Update: I've been sleeping really well since I started keeping my smart phone out of the bed room as well as when I started running to prepare for my first 42 k :) :) :) I miss this dress. And I still hate listening to my own recorded voice.

Faith and Food

Healing from Anemia!

In early 2013, I was feeling like I needed to change something in my diet.

I had enjoyed the awesome health benefits eating raw the past three years provided, but I was also wondering why some health concerns were not improving. I was hoping that 2 years into raw food, I would see changes, but my health just seemed to plateau.

I then started reading a book called 80/10/10 by Naturopathic Doctor Doug Graham. The principles intrigued me; the book proposed a better way to go about the raw vegan diet, this time cutting out the oil and upping the carb intake by way of fruit.

Starting 80/10/10. I went to this party carrying about 6 bottles worth  of two pineapples blended with spinach. 

Lo and behold, by the time I went through my general checkup in 2013, my red blood cell count had gone up and my anemia had healed! This had never, ever happened before, even when I was a little kid and drank all sorts of drugs called names like Hemoglobin, etc. I also had a meat-eater friend tell me she briefly thought about doing what I was doing if only to get healthy skin like mine at the time (don't judge me now, I'm not completely one hundred percent 80/10/10 anymore and I have been getting insomnia because of some poor health choices).

So there you go. It was such a wonderful surprise! I never, ever thought my anemia would heal! For the first time in my life, I could potentially donate blood!

What an amazing blessing!

Anemia-free in 2013! TGBTG!

My weekly stash the second week of 80/10/10 in 2013. Lots and lots of melons, bananas, mangoes, pineapples, and 2 guyabanos. Not organic though.



Postscript written in 2017: I no longer am on 80/10/10, as I am adding lots of coconut, and other nuts and seeds, as well as probiotics, enzymes and green juice which aren't really part of the 80/10/10 protoco. 80/10/10 is awesome for detox and healing, but I was not able to sustain it due to cravings.

Healing from Anemia!

Things to celebrate from the past two years :)

I never got to blog about last year's highlights! Someone complained that I haven't been updating the blog as much lately. Sorry!

Better late than never, though! Briefly, here are some of those highlights:

2013 was an amazing year where I got more into 80/10/10.

I ran my first 5k!

I won a game in my first badminton tournament and improved my standing from the previous year's. (I didn't win the championship but I was super psyched to have started this late and gotten ahead)

I was pronounced anemia-free! 

I went on a road trip in the US with no trips to the hospital :)

I went to a beach wedding allergy-free!

I made dishes for family members without feeling sorry for myself I couldn't eat them. (Yay for taste testers on standby!)

I committed to eating healthy one day at a time.

I stepped in as moderator for an 80/10/10 author while she worked on her book.

In 2014, I was less strict about 80/10/10. I allowed myself some more fat than was recommended and even non-80/10/10 food. I felt like I was missing some kind of source for minerals, so I told my accountability partners that I was going to not be so strict about 80/10/10.

I actually felt less than optimal, even experiencing bouts of insomnia. So I am wondering if maybe I ought to go back on 80/10/10 a little more strictly. We shall see.

One exciting thing from 2014 was climbing Mt. Pulag with friends :) That was an amazing time!

January 5-10, 2014  will be a week of prayer and juice fasting. Aside from my church's suggested prayer points, I will also be praying for personal guidance on tweaking my health regimen, as well as a new health-related business sideline that I am very excited about!

Here's to many breakthroughs and growing more intimate with Him! Here's to being filled to overflow!

PS My mom was hospitalized in 2014 and could not chew her own food for a while. We prayed about considering a food tube for her, eventually deciding on letting her get it, and so far it is helping. Part of what her nurses place in the tube are fruit- and vegetable-based raw smoothies, and many have told us that she looks healthier, and even her doctors are pleased with her improvement. Praise God! :)

I owe God Almighty my health and all these things that I celebrate!

Things to celebrate from the past two years :)

Happy 2015!

Happy 2015!

I am so excited for the new year!

What new goals have you set for yourself this year?

Happy 2015!

Mahal!

Mahal ba? (Is it expensive?) Whenever I get asked what I eat, this is a common follow-up question.

And of course I answer what the price is of whatever it is I get, and often the asker reaffirms his/her underlying assumption - a high-raw lifestyle is just too expensive, too.  Hence, the reason to stay away from it.

But consider this - how often does a person who buys cheap and unhealthy food get sick?

And how did this affect his/her expenses in terms of medicine, pay cuts due to absences and/or a lowered evaluation rating as a result of numerous absences?

It all adds up! And in the end, you did not actually save, methinks.

Health purchases are investments - I don't see immediate returns now - but I do know the dividends will be greater for the long-term.

Steven Covey in 7 Habits talked about minding your production capability (your goose-laying capacity) in addition to your production (your golden egg). If you don't invest in the maintenance of your machine, you will pretty soon have zero output.

When I lived in the States, I observed my health insurance go up every year. I made claims for my bouts with laryngitis (brought about by poor health choices and perhaps the hazards of the job), but in my naivete, still considered myself pretty healthy. I knew friends and acquaintances in Washington who did not report getting sick, just so that their premiums remained unchanged, but their food choices just kept them dependent on over-the-counter drugs.  I was also shocked at how often my friends'/clients' kids got sick - of course I have no statistics to compare this with the frequency of illnesses from when I was still in the Philippines, but I thought that the occurrences were a bit much.  And let's not even talk about their allergies! They would put my list to shame!

Is the perceived expense what's keeping you from choosing healthier food? Or something else?

PS Another translation for mahal in Tagalog is love. In Ivrit (Hebrew) it is blessing. So yes, my food is mahal (love and a blessing).

Happy Valentine's Day :)

PPS Would you like to strike a balance between your production/production capability? Or are you doing this already? What steps have you taken? Let's talk on Kontactr! (If you've tried contacting me on the wordpress site, sorry, I am unable to respond there. Weird password issues. Try Kontactr again. Thanks!)

PPPS Are you interested in taking a food prep class for beginners? 

Mahal!