Day 4

What an amazing day I had!! I have so much energy I don't know what to do with it!! I have started the task of organizing my little house. My hubby and I have been married for 8 months (wow is it possible) and when we combined our "stuff" together, it left everything busting at the seams.
Even with my busy life of running a new business and helping my husband with his, this no sugar has given me much more energy, so the house is my target.
For Day 4: I had my smoothie (I cheated a tiny bit and but raw fresh cranberries in)
For lunch I made a sumptuous salad with hemp oil and lemon juice as the dressing.
Dinner was pumpkin loaf that I made and dehydrated - again amazing!! I love RAW foods!!!
I am starting sprouts today so that I can start throwing those on all my salads too. Sprouts are so good to keep the body alkaline and that is one of my big goals too!! In an alkaline state our bodies can't grow yeast or fungus on the cells and I want to be anti-fungi :) Here is some more info on alkalinity:

Importance Of Alkalinity

We live and die at the cellular level. All the cells (billions of them) that make up the human body are slightly alkaline, and must maintain alkalinity in order to function and remain healthy and alive. However their cellular activity creates acid and this acid is what gives the cell energy and function. As each alkaline cell performs its task of respiration, it secretes metabolic wastes, and these end products of cellular metabolism are acid in nature. Although these wastes are used for energy and function, they must not be allowed to build up. One example of this is the often painful lactic acid which is created through exercise. The body will go to great lengths to neutralize and detoxify these acids before they act as poisons in and around the cell, ultimately changing the environment of the cell. Most people and clinical practitioners believe the immune system is the body's first line of defense, but in actuality it is not. It is very important, but more like a very sophisticated clean-up service. We must instead look at the importance of pH balance as the first and major line of defense against sickness and disease and for health and vitality.

The human body is very intelligent. As we become more and more acidic the body starts to set up defense mechanisms to keep the damaging acid from entering our vital organs. It is known that acid gets stored in fat cells. After all, if the acid does come into contact with an organ the acid has a chance to eat holes in the tissue. This may cause the cells to mutate. The oxygen level drops in this acidic environment and calcium begins to be depleted. So as a defense mechanism, your body may actually make fat to protect you from your overly-acidic self. Those fat cells and cellulite deposits may actually be packing up the acid and trying to keep it a safe distance from your organs. The fat may be saving your vital organs from damage. Many people have found that a return to a healthy inner biological terrain helps them to lose excess fat.

Benefits of Alkalinity

Today's lifestyle causes a multitude of disorders and malfunctions in the metabolism of our bodies. Despite the efforts of the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, our food supply, drinking water, air and soil are becoming increasingly contaminated with toxic chemicals. Never before has the human body been presented with such a heavy burden of foreign substances to metabolize and eliminate thus taxing the body beyond its natural capabilities of detoxification.

Many people just don't feel good anymore. Some find themselves being much more susceptible to colds, or to whatever "bug" is currently going around. Much more serious are the increasing cases of autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia. "Health" and "wellness" have become relative terms.

Low-level toxicity from many sources can be very difficult to detect. The combined action of all these toxins creates a "toxic cocktail" effect which can seriously weaken the body and the mind through a process we call "fermentation" or the over-acidification of the blood and tissue as a result of the proliferation of yeast, fungus, and bacteria.

Yeast and fungus are single cell life forms which inhabit the air, soil, water, and many of the foods we eat. They are more highly developed than the intermediate states of bacteria or the early stages of viruses. Over the years, they have developed into over 500,000 different species. They are opportunists and survivalists. They are constantly looking for new places to house themselves where they may begin to colonize and proliferate. Being that they are single cell life forms, they can only be seen under a microscope but once colonized, these cells make a visible presence in the form of mushrooms, and molds on food.

Yeast, fungus, bacteria, mold, and viruses tend to house themselves in very specific sites in the body, depending on their particular requirements for nutrients and colonization conditions. All are capable of causing severe fermentation through the by-products of their metabolism, which enter the extra cellular fluid or the blood and then are distributed throughout the body. This culminates in the over-acidification of the blood and tissues which systemically poison and destroy the cells of the body. This condition we call over-acidification is a direct result of an inverted way of eating - the abundance of animal protein, especially red meat and pork, dairy products (milk, cheese, ice cream), sugar in any form (sucrose, fructose, glucose). Therefore, there is only one sickness and one disease.

The primary source of nourishment for yeast, fungus, and bacteria is sugar. As these organisms feed off the sugar and proteins of our bodies they produce and excrete waste called toxins. These toxins effect us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The solution to this growing problem is to cleanse the blood and nourish the cells. We do this by eliminating those foods which create over-acidification and eating more foods that are alkaline. Yeast, fungus, bacteria, mold, and virus can only survive in an acid base, they cannot survive in an alkaline base. It is, therefore, very important that there is a proper ration between acid an alkaline foods in the diet. When an ideal ratio is maintained, yeast fungus, bacteria, mold, and virus will revert back to their normal healthy state. The ideal ration in a normal body is 4 parts alkaline to 1 part acid which will allow the body to maintain a pH factor of 7.365. To avoid a lengthy chemistry lesson, we will get right to the point that pH refers to the relative concentration of Hydrogen (H+) ions in a solution. Low pH values indicate higher concentrations of Hydrogen ions or acids, and high pH values indicate low concentrations of Hydrogen ions or alkaline. For example, 10 to -1 is more acidic than 10 to -14.>

An ideal diet should consist of dark green and yellow vegetables, soy beans, sprouted grains and nuts, and essential fatty acids. This ideal way of eating would reduce our susceptibility to toxins, detoxify the body, and reduce or prevent future exposures allowing for cellular regeneration leading to "health" and "wellness."

Ciao till next time 

Day 2 and 3

Were great days and so busy, that I didn't even get on here to blog. The cravings for sugar are getting less and less, so that is exciting to me. I have hit my goal of exercising for an hour minimum each day as well. It takes 30 days to ingrain a habit into your system, so I am only 26 days away :) yikes!
Food has been fun to create. I had my protein smoothie each morning, a salad for lunch and for dinner I made amazing pepper hempfredo. Zucchini noodles with an exceptional sauce made from hemp, avocado, fresh ground pepper and a lot of my creativity. Was delicious.
Off to run, will post more soon -

Ciao

Day 1 of NO sugar

I have made a conscious decision to take all sugar out of my diet for 60 days.
Reasons:
1) detox
2) accomplish weight loss goals
3) to break a life long addiction
These are my primary reasons, and this is my journey into unknown territory. Follow along and if any of you want to join me in this massive action plan, come along. :)

Day 1: Today was a bit of a rough day. So used to having a berry smoothie for my breakfast and I choose to even cut berries out, so now ice is all I have.  Lunch was a great salad and dinner, kale salad. Oh and LOTS of water!!!
I am going to try and eat by 7 every night and just have water in the evening to teach my body not to crave food at night. Plus this gives the body time to digest and store exactly how it was meant to.
I am going to be doing a minimum of an hour of exercise a day in addition to the no sugar. Today as we just flew in for Florida I missed my workout schedule but tomorrow, it's ON!! :)
Wow, all I can say is who knew how much sugar is even in raw food bars. Guess it will be strictly veggies, juice and salads. I guess my creative genes are going to kick in full force.
Ciao till tomorrow

Want Beautiful Hair? Eat Seaweed

Hair is nurtured by the scalp and blood supply, just as plants are sustained by soil and ground water. Every strand of hair resembles a plant stem in structure. Hair, like vegetation, depends on the quality of the medium in which it grows.

We value hair highly for appearance. For the body, hair is less important. The root is hair’s only living part. Hair above the root reflects the body’s history, its former nourishment patterns. The body, concerned with its present state of health, its future survival, uses to feed its essential organs and tissues first, feeding the hair only if it has a surplus of nutrients. If the body has an abundance of nourishment, it keeps your hair healthy. But when the body senses a deficiency, it abandons the hair, being inessential for life.
Here’s a myth about the nourishment of hair… Since hair is 97 percent protein, the myth goes, you need a protein-rich diet. Nonsense! Your body can converts carbohydrates into protein. Your body in fact prefers to nourish hair this way. If your diet predominately consists of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, you will have firm, thick hair.
Dandruff is an example of how your body eliminates excess fat and protein. These white, dry flakes are nothing but oil and protein clumped together, caused by consuming saturated fats and proteins in animal foods, especially fried foods. My experience: Stop eating meat, no more dandruff.
Research shows sodium alginate, a compound found in most seaweed, binds with heavy metals and chemical poisons, flushing them from the body. Sea vegetables help the body to discharge radioactive wastes. They nourish the endocrine system, especially the thyroid and adrenal glands. Iodine in seaweed keeps the thyroid functioning normally, and is high in natural sodium.
Sea vegetables, providing plenty of proteins, complex carbohydrates, carotenes, and chlorophyll, stimulate and strengthen the skin, hair, and nails. Brittle hair, caused by a shortage of minerals, too much salt or animal food, or excessive use of drugs, can be restored by eating sea vegetables.
Sea vegetables offer tremendous benefits not only for health but for beauty. Kelp, wakame, arame, dulse, and nori are all high-protein vegetables, low in fat. Rich in calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, iodine, and other trace minerals, sea vegetables like alaria and kelp are better calcium sources than milk. Sea vegetables, like land vegetables, are high in potassium.
Thinning hair is a common sign of aging, even more than graying hair. Hair follicles cannot produce hair in toxic environments. The results: slow and meager hair growth, with strands brittle, and split.
People who had been on the raw food lifestyle for a year reported an amazing result: abundant hair growth—as much as an inch a month. In some cases, gray hair was replaced with strands of original color.
When you first begin your 100 per cent raw food diet, you might lose some hair. This is part of the cleansing process. But since a raw food diet will give excessive nourishment, your hair will begin to thrive and be much stronger in the long run. Hair loss during transition is only temporary. Don’t panic. Look to your temples for new hair growth—a good sign!
Gray hair is often a companion of aging, because the cells in the bulb that are supposed to produce melanin are dead. They die for the same reasons other cells do. Poor assimilation, hormonal imbalances, and toxic waste buildup in the system are contributing factors. Graying hair is caused by the consumption of saturated fat and protein, as well as salt. Another cause of graying hair is the excessive intake of simple sugars, which leach minerals from the blood, weakening the nutrients that reach the hair. Starving and suffocating hair turns gray.
Many people on raw food diets claim that their hair returned to its natural color. I am convinced it’s possible to prevent hair from turning gray or reverse the process if already begun. However, heredity is a big factor here.
Drink wheatgrass, and wash your hair in it. Nutrients penetrate into follicles and stimulate growth of new pigment-producing cells. Getting results takes persistence, but consider the alternative—artificial coloring is carcinogenic.