I am now 100% raw in terms of food. This past weekend was quite a challenge. I admit to drinking at the Niagara Ice Wine Festival, but I did not touch any of the food in the pairings, and instead spent the weekend consuming raw vegetables and watching my (new) significant other (hopefully very significant in time!) ingest many things that I don’t eat any longer. I had a few twinges, but it actually wasn’t too difficult.

My grocery trips are simple, as is my daily food intake. My sleep has been drastically reduced, and my energy is higher than I ever remember. I expect to have temptation, but I love the way I feel too much to jeopardize it.

Shopping
- mung beans
- dried apricots
- walnuts
- 1 yam
- dates
- raw cacao

Eating
- 1 cube wheatgrass
- 1 cube E3Live
- Green juice – romaine, cucumber, celery, lemon
- Herbal tea
- Salad
- Dill “cheese” and dehydrated flax crackers (lots)
- Water, while out at the pub

I am starting a daily serving of E3Live and discovered that ice cube trays are the perfect way to ration it into servings.

I sit here in a Williams Coffee Pub, enjoying my mint tea, but very much appalled by my salad. When did it happen that ordering salad meant a plate covered with candied nuts, raisins, and other foreign objects? A spinach and apple sounded sounded innocuous enough – especially if I removed all of the gorgonzola cheese. The only thing I can do with this is put it in a box and give it to someone else. In the meantime, there must be somewhere in this city where I can buy wheatgrass… wo|man cannot live on wheatgrass alone, but it seems to be a better alternative for the moment.

Lesson learned. From now on, the only thing I will purchase in one of these establishments (or others of a similar nature) is a tea bag and hot water. Everything else just seems potentially unsafe. Mind you, I am also surfing on the coattails of a trip to the Mandarin buffet. Never did I think I would be in a Mandarin again, after an experience last year, and yet circumstance found me there again. I have to learn to travel with more food and be able to watch another person eating without partaking myself… without feeling guilty.

I am currently addicted to:

• Raw organic sauerkraut
• Olives
• Grapefruit

I don’t believe in New Years resolutions; I believe in goals and dreams. This is what I wrote at the beginning of 2009. My life has certainly changed since then. While 2008 was fantastic, 2009 was challenging. It was brilliant, painful, inspiring, and heartbreaking – a cornucopia of deep feeling. Love lost, self found. I shed enough tears to fill an ocean, but discovered the hope and strength to find my way through the darkness.

I was laid off from my project management job and spent several months finding myself and redefining my goals. Similar to 2008, I traveled and studied. I spent a good deal of time touring Ontario wine country, and visited my favourite haunts in Ottawa, Quebec, and Michigan. I drank tequila in Ensenada, explored the mysterious beauty of Iceland, and stood at the top of Mount Baker, Washington. I learned some additional modalities in energy work, applied to the American Institute of Holistic Theology, achieved my ACB (Advanced Communicator Bronze) in Toastmasters, and joined the Guelph Guild of Storytellers. I took several advanced CSS 2.1 courses and became a whiz at designing table-free web sites. My client base has grown exponentially and I am enjoying the prosperity that comes with repeat business from work well done.

2010 has seen me make some serious decisions about my future – in terms of career, finances, health and human connection and I am excited and passionate about everything that this year will bring.

Goals for 2010

• A full detoxification of my body, mind, spirit
• Be continually conscious of my health and diet / fully embrace a raw food lifestyle
• Get back into yoga and martial arts
• Finish and submit all coursework for yoga teacher training
• Attain my Zend Certified Engineer designation
• Achieve my ACS (Advanced Communicator Silver) designation in Toastmasters
• Become the Guelph Area Governor for Toastmasters

2009/earlier goals that didn’t make it

• Learn Flex – not sure I am going to bother anymore
• Return to Halifax (Easter?), visit San Francisco (in the Spring perhaps)
• Apply to grad school – not sure I am going to anymore
• Get my Registered Practitioner status with the Canadian Reiki Association – still a goal
• Write my exam with the Certified Personal Trainers Network – not sure this is a goal anymore
• Master of Herbology with Dominion Herbal College – still a goal

Happy 2010… and may the new year bless you with health, wealth, and wisdom… and hope.

“Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.” – Vaclav Havel

Eating copious amounts of sprouts on a daily basis was fairly challenging until now: NEW! Extreme Salt & Vinegar Sprouts!

Back in my chip days, salt and vinegar was my favourite, hands down. In conjunction with my goal of increasing my sprout consumption, I assumed they would be more enticing with a little pizazz.

- Mung bean sprouts
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp vinegar
- gently sprinkle with Herbamare seasoning

The result was quite tasty. With this in mind, I am going to attempt to replicate many of my other favourite chip flavours using mung or adzuki bean sprouts as a base.

Mung beans and adzuki beans are my favourite to sprout. When soaked and rinsed properly, they grow fast and there is little chance of mold. I plan to start eating a bowl of sprouts daily, so there are going to be lots of living green things around me.

Goji Berries: Benefits

Almond Flax Crackers

Into a food processor:

- 2 cups flax seeds
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 carrot
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 red onion
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp spicy Herbamare
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/8 cup olive oil

Dehydrate for 6-8 hours.

I have known a few people who have had Crohn’s Disease. However, I have recently had the opportunity to meet someone with whom I have felt comfortable talking to them about their condition (to some degree). The following are some of the better resources and articles I’ve found correlating the benefits of a raw food diet on this auto-immune disease.

• http://www.colitis-crohns.com/recoveryStories.html
• http://www.raw-food-health.net/CrohnsDisease.html
• http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/
• http://www.newswithviews.com/Howenstine/james25.htm
• http://www.qualityhealth.com/crohns-disease-articles/