Getting My Juice On

This morning I met with Matt Gleason of The Tulsa World. We hung out and chatted in the deli at Whole Foods and then we went produce shopping! Matt was really cool and seemed genuinely interested in this whole global juice feasting concept. He shared that he has even made some changes in his own diet and I think....I hope...he will chose to put a positive spin on the story. I spent a good deal of time preparing and I had my facts as ready as I was going to. I communicated that I feel as though I'm making an educated and dynamic choice for the betterment of my own health. My intention with this feast was never meant for any kind of publicity, as it feels like a completely personal thing to me, however, I am open to sharing what I've learned if it can help another. In the end, I made him promise not to make me into sounding like a far-out-new-age-hippie juice freak...he laughed. So did I, and we'll see how it all turns out when it hits the newsstand next week.

So, now that I've shopped and have this interview basically behind me, my personal enthusiasm has climaxed and I'm ready to get this show on the road. My kitchen and refrigerator are brimming with beautiful colors and overflowing with vibrant life. I have ended up only juicing today and haven't eaten anything yet, but Gordon and I will probably have "our last supper" this evening, just for fun. I'll most likely have a fabulous salad with an avocado....that sounds so good to me right now.

I just learned that my friend, Heidi Ohlander, has made the choice to end her juice feast today on day 35. She has done so well and she's been a huge source of encouragement to me. I applaud her for listening to her body and resisting the urge to prove a point, to try to hang in there for others or to push through for some sort of level achievement when that is so not what all of this is about. She is going to continue on with a modified juice feast and she will keep us posted on what that is going to look like in the days ahead.

Before I part with you, I'll post a list of what I purchased today for my first few days:

2 bundles spinach
2 heads romaine
2 heads rainbow swiss chard
2 bunches cilantro
2 bunches Italian parsley
2 bunches fresh mint
1 pkg. jerusalem artichokes
1 5 lb. bag carrots
3 heads celery
1 bunch red beets
6 cucumbers
3 red bell peppers
bag of lemons
bag of limes
4 young coconuts
1 ugly wad ginger
2 bags gala apples
Box of Rooiboos tea
Hemp Oil

And as Katrina Rainoshek says....only one more sleep and it will be time to let the feast begin!

Creating Space

Each day that goes by, I am getting more and more geared towards the impending feast. I have been using up ingredients in my kitchen and making meals with what we have instead of going out and collecting more to add into the cabinets. I suppose I have been unintentionally purging and cleaning out in preparation for the flow of organic life that will be filling the counter tops and refrigerator over the upcoming months. So instead of all kinds of raw ingredients, like raw macadamia nut butter, Cacao Bliss, agave nectar and a smörgasbord of lovingly prepared raw treats, my shelves are starting to hold supplements like bee pollen, Rich's MSM, Vita-Mineral Green, etc. The shift in my thinking has already taken place and now tangible things are starting to fall in line.

One interesting thing that happened last week was that a reporter from our local paper, The Tulsa World, somehow stumbled across my blog as he was looking for inspirational stories. Matt Gleason contacted me last Friday and would like to do a story about my juice feast and is particularly interested in the whole global aspect of what is taking place. Matt and a staff photographer will meet me at Whole Foods this Friday morning as I shop for the first couple of days of my feast. We'll do part of the interview at the store and then they'll follow me home for a tour of the raw and juicy kitchen and a lesson in JUICING 101. Won't that be fun? The story will run the following week and then there will be a follow up(s) as the feast progresses. A final story will run at the close of my feast to report statistics. I am delighted to be able to share this gift of life with people who may have never heard of the concept of healing and regeneration through juicing.

As I have been preparing for the upcoming changes, I have been voraciously reading other feasters blogs. I am learning something from all of them but one stood out. JuiceFeastingAtFifty writes, "The juice feast is a solitary journey. I did not foresee, before starting the juice feast, that it would take a toll on others besides myself, but in truth it does....... My family can’t eat dinner with my me; my friends from work can’t eat lunch with me....My focus is on me: how I am feeling? how well I am detoxing today? And frankly, that does get tiresome, both for those whom I love and for me too.....Although a solitary journey, it prepares one to rejoin the world from a higher, deeper perspective. I am more patient, kinder, and more considerate because of the juice feast. I have embraced my spirituality fully and without fear of disapproval, and have committed myself to undertaking the work that I now realize I came here to do....the clarity has enabled me to focus on realizing my dreams. What I want to achieve with this gift called life is no longer vague and unattainable — it is as clear and sharp as the spark in my daughter’s eye when she is laughing from the gut. The juice feast is, in essence, a vision quest.....During the juice feast you do retreat into yourself, but you do so to transform into the person you know you can be. And from there you can be of much greater service to the world, whatever your path."

After reading these words, how can I not move forward? What is three months in the great scheme of life? I will tell you the difference three months makes....Look at Terilynn from Denver who is nearing the end of her 92 days. This raw mama has got it going on! I read today that although her feast is scheduled to end this Saturday, she is considering taking it forward another week. Talk about inspiration!

I am so eager to join the others who are blazing the trail before me...just a few more days before my pantry is bare and my Omega Juicer is going at full tilt!

Eckhart Is My Homeboy

In my last post, I made a statement that I sensed my decision to commit to the upcoming juice feast wasn't something that I'm choosing, but that IT is actually choosing ME. After rereading those words and now having several comments from others who also appear to understand these feelings, I happened upon a writing from Eckhart Tolle that I wanted to share with you all here. This is from Oprah's website where he is discussing the reasoning behind why he wrote another book after his life-changing, The Power of Now......

"The process (of writing A New Earth) began in the same way as it had with The Power of Now—a strong sense that there was a book that wanted to be written. It felt almost as if the book already existed in the unmanifested realm and wanted me to bring it into this world. Many times in my life, it has been my experience that the most powerful starting point for any endeavor is not the question, What do I want?, but What does Life (God, Consciousness) want from me? How do I serve the whole? "

There it was again, simply said with different words, but the exact same thing I had been feeling. Eckhart articulated beautifully my own impression of my current internal feelings. I love when synchronicity brings it all together sometimes.

If you haven't read A New Earth: Awakening To Your Life's Purpose, I do hope you'll consider adding it to your list of must reads. I find it pretty amazing that Oprah has chosen this book for her Book Club list. The number of lives that may be touched through the reading of this is beautiful and humbling. I would also encourage you to go and sign up to be part of the online study of A New Earth that will be taking place every Monday evening, beginning March 3rd for 10 weeks. I don't suspect it is a consequence that this study parallels during the time of the global juice feast.

Today I am going out to get a blood sugar monitor. We are strongly encouraged to get a more clear picture of what our resting blood sugar levels are before beginning the juicing process. Knowing where we fall - whether in the normal, pre-diabetic or diabetic range - is important for planning what will actually be juiced during this time. I have a sense that I will be more into the pre-diabetic range, but we'll see. It is hard for me to imagine not being able to have fruit during this time. Alas, I'll cross that bridge if and when I get there.

Have a great weekend Everybody!

Real Juice Daily

For days I have had a desire to update my blog, yet it seems that I just couldn't find the clarity or focus to do so. Aside from the usual business of daily activities, I have also been spending much time in research and prayerful reflection and meditation. I have had a gnawing feeling, a swelling on the inside, an indescribable urgency and leading towards making the commitment to join with David and Katrina Rainoshek, Angela Stokes, Philip McCluskey, Heidi Ohlander and many other health pioneers and take the juice plunge. Perhaps you have heard of Juice Feasting. March 1st kicks off the First Annual 92-Day Global Juice Feast. People from all over the globe are joining together to make a difference in their own personal reality with this amazing health technology. Below is an awesome interview with the facilitator of JuiceFeasting.com, David Rainoshek:




In just 10 days, I will embark on this very cool adventure . I am looking forward to not only the cleansing, healing, revitalizing and rebuilding effects of the program but I'm most eager about the spiritual aspect of taking three months to live a more fasted life and learn to listen more intently to what's going on inside. Having spent some time fasting in the past, I am aware of the emotional and spiritual shift that generally occurs. In my recent studies, I ran across this statement from Friar Thomas Ryan, a catholic priest and certified Kripalu yoga teacher who coordinates ecumenical and inter-religious relations for the Paulist community in the U.S. and Canada. He says, "Fasting as a religious act increases our sensitivity to that Mystery that is always and everywhere present to us. . . .It is an invitation to awareness, a call to compassion for the needy, a cry of distress, and a song of joy. It is a discipline of self-restraint, a ritual of purification, and a sanctuary for offerings of atonement. It is a wellspring for the spiritually dry, a compass for the spiritually lost, and inner nourishment for the spiritually hungry."

I understand that juice feasting isn't truly considered to be fasting. I hardly consider 1,500 calories per day in fresh, raw, organic vegetable and fruit juices to be depriving, yet it is an absence of food, chewing and other obvious rituals that include meals and eating. It is, in fact, a fasted existence in that respect and has very similar results to any other style of fasting. For the purpose of journaling bits and pieces of my personal journey on juice, I am going to rename my blog for this time period to - Real Juice Daily.

Over the next 10 days, I am simply planning to enjoy life. There is some preparation involved, like picking up a few supplements and mapping out what my trips to Whole Foods will start looking like, I will be going about life as normal. It is difficult to explain my emotional state right now, but I am aware of this sense of excitement surrounding this event both personally and corporately. It is like I didn't chose to commit to the feast, but that "it" actually chose me. I wonder if that makes sense to any one else? I invite you to stay connected and check in from time to time to hear tales from the adventure. I also encourage you to consider some form of juicing for yourself during this time. Even if you were to join in for a few days, a week or more, it would make a positive impact on your health. I hope you'll let me know if you are considering joining in on any level. If it is not the right time for you or if juicing isn't part of your personal interest, I ask you to consider supporting me (and hundreds of others) with your positive thoughts, wonderful energy and happy intentions during this time. Either way, do stay tuned, because it's going to be getting REAL JUICY around here!

Fresh Inspirations

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of taking the short road trip to Edmond, Oklahoma to be part of two raw food classes offered in the home of Chef Mandy Canistelle. Mandy is a raw food chef/instructor and is a graduate of the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in California. She is also the host of The Perfect Snack, which airs as a segment on Jordan Rubin's (the Maker's Diet) television series, Extraordinary Health. Recently learning that Mandy lives just an hour and a half from me, I was delighted to find that she offers certification courses, children classes, hands-on workshops, individual classes, and community gatherings for raw food preparation and dining. Lucky me and lucky Oklahoma!

The two classes I attended were a raw hands on workshop and a seated demonstration class. Mandy was joined by Peter Cervoni, professional chef and restaurant consultant. Peter is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has worked in New York vegan restaurants such as Angelica Kitchen and Quintessence. He has also been a chef at Hippocrates Health Institute. Peter currently works as a private chef and raw foods lecturer. Peter and Mandy both represents Chef Chad Sarno in his project, Vital Creations, Inc.

I was blown away by both Mandy and Peter. The taste and quality level of what they were preparing was easily some of the best raw food I've had anywhere in the country. Their passion, presence and positive energy flowed into the food and into those of us who were fortunate to be part of these amazing classes. If you ever have the opportunity to study with Mandy or Peter please do so. I learned new ideas and techniques, not to mention some really incredible new recipes. Without sharing too many of their secrets, I have to post one of the delicious and simple recipes here....and with Valentine's Day tomorrow, it is a perfect and easy way to seduce the palate of your lover!

Hazelnut Mocha Chip Truffles

2 cups hazelnuts, soaked and dried

3 cups Medjool dates

1/4 cup Mesquite powder, plus extra for coating

1 T almond flavor/extract

Pinch of Himalayan or Celtic sea salt

1/4 cup cacao nibs

Place all ingredients, except nibs, into a food processor with an S blade. Process until finely ground. Remove mixture and fold in cacao nibs. Kneed dough until a smooth ball forms. Portion and roll into small ball truffles. Dredge in Mesquite powder and refrigerate until firm.