Respect yourself

Self respect is one of the great secrets to health and longevity. If you respect yourself, you won’t pollute your body-mind with drugs, junk food, and smoke, and you won’t abuse it with a poor lifestyle.

If you respect yourself, you will treat your body like a superior being and you would treat your mind like a sage. Treat yourself with respect-you may be a potential Buddha, or the person with the potential to save or positively change the world.

This single practice of truly respecting yourself should be enough to propel you on the path of radiant health!

Now that I’ve “come out” to the world about being pregnant it’s time to share all the knowledge I’ve been acquiring throughout the past 2 1/2 months!  (Facebook & technology has changed the world in so many ways!! so easy, with just a click, my world knew!)

In my opinion, Iron is absolutely the MOST important supplement/nutrient to get into your body when you’re pregnant.

This metal carries oxygen from the lungs to every cell in the body. Its other big role is to make blood. Blood volume increases by 50% during pregnancy. Blood feeds the placenta and uterine lining. Without large members of oxygen-rich red blood cells, your baby won’t grow.

For a straight hit of iron, eating red meat or liver is a sure bet. Clams, chicken liver, duck and oysters are excellent sources. (if you’re vegan or vegetarian, look below for an awesome option) Fish, poultry, spinach, dried apricots and unsulphered or black-strap molasses are decent sources. Grains and dairy foods are not.

It’s also wise to eat iron-friendly foods, including fresh produce for folate and vitamin C, banans for B5 and any meat, milk or eggs for B12.

I highly recommended Floradix, a liquid supplement with organic iron in an absorbable form (ferrous gluconate) instead of inorganic iron, which can cause constipation. I take this almost every day. I love the way it tastes and I instantly have more energy after consuming it. I don’t eat red meat and haven’t for almost 10 years, so it’s vital to get it from a supplement source. I’ve taken it for years, (I’m slightly anemic) usually every day when I’m on my period and here and there when I’m not.

Another option is taking ground liver capsules. If you’re not anemic, don’t take iron. The body doesn’t excrete iron easily, and too much can be toxic.

I’ve heard so many horror stories about yoga teachers and personal trainers (or not) taking their students or clients to unsafe territories in their bodies.

Working out isn’t supposed to make you want to throw up, and yoga isn’t supposed to hurt. Practicing it is supposed to make you feel better, but doing it wrong is just dangerous.

After being a personal trainer at Equinox in Santa Monica and working as a yoga teacher at several studios including a gym, I’ve seen it all. Students wobble into class injured, saying they can hardly walk due to an injury from their last class. I’ve had students not come to my class for months because of an injury they received after going to another yoga class that took them far beyond their capabilities. Obviously, this is all subjective and students/clients should monitor their own bodies. But seriously, some teachers are out of control. I’ve heard about a certain incredibly famous power yoga teacher actually popping a students rib out of place from pressing too hard on his back. Some teachers assist and have no proper training in how to do so. Not cool.

Weekend Warriors

Often times people get hurt because they assume that yoga is simple and that anybody can pretzel himself or herself on demand. Edward Toriello, an orthopedic surgeon and spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons says, most of the injuries he sees are sustained by “weekend warrior” baby boomers who being yoga or work outs without realizing that their bodies are no longer what they used to be.”They think yoga is an easy way to start exercises, so they go to class once a week, not stretched out at all and they get hurt.”

Same goes for cardio and especially for weight lifting. I had many clients who insisted on benching more weight “because it’s what they did in college” but what they don’t realize, is that they aren’t that person anymore. That’s when they get injured and then have to lay off exercise for weeks to properly heal.  Functional strength training is much more effective for optimal results.

Legit?

Part of the problem is that increasingly, the people teaching yoga don’t know enough about it. Yoga was traditionally taught one-on-one, over many years. Today’s instructors can take a yoga teacher training course in just one weekend. Luckily, to be in the Yoga Alliance (formed in 1999) has set a minimum of 200 hours for instructors to be certified. Unfortunately, only 16,168 of the over 70,000 yoga teachers are actually in the Yoga Alliance. This is a very pertinent issue, especially when it comes to injury.

Wherever you chose to practice or work out, studio, gym or with a personal trainer at the beach, just make sure you listen to your own body and take care of yourself. If you don’t, nobody else can be expected to. Warm up before activity/exercise, then stretch when muscles are warm, and stretch for a longer amount of time after activities. For Weekend Warriors, if you can’t get to the gym other than weekends, be sure to stretch during the week for 10-15 minutes… it will make a world of difference! And If something hurts... stop doing it!

I’ve heard so many horror stories about yoga teachers and personal trainers (or not) taking their students or clients to unsafe territories in their bodies.

Working out isn’t supposed to make you want to throw up, and yoga isn’t supposed to hurt. Practicing it is supposed to make you feel better, but doing it wrong is just dangerous.

After being a personal trainer at Equinox in Santa Monica and working as a yoga teacher at several studios including a gym, I’ve seen it all. Students wobble into class injured, saying they can hardly walk due to an injury from their last class. I’ve had students not come to my class for months because of an injury they received after going to another yoga class that took them far beyond their capabilities. Obviously, this is all subjective and students/clients should monitor their own bodies. But seriously, some teachers are out of control. I’ve heard about a certain incredibly famous power yoga teacher actually popping a students rib out of place from pressing too hard on his back. Some teachers assist and have no proper training in how to do so. Not cool.

Weekend Warriors

Often times people get hurt because they assume that yoga is simple and that anybody can pretzel himself or herself on demand. Edward Toriello, an orthopedic surgeon and spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons says, most of the injuries he sees are sustained by “weekend warrior” baby boomers who being yoga or work outs without realizing that their bodies are no longer what they used to be.”They think yoga is an easy way to start exercises, so they go to class once a week, not stretched out at all and they get hurt.”

Same goes for cardio and especially for weight lifting. I had many clients who insisted on benching more weight “because it’s what they did in college” but what they don’t realize, is that they aren’t that person anymore. That’s when they get injured and then have to lay off exercise for weeks to properly heal.  Functional strength training is much more effective for optimal results.

Legit?

Part of the problem is that increasingly, the people teaching yoga don’t know enough about it. Yoga was traditionally taught one-on-one, over many years. Today’s instructors can take a yoga teacher training course in just one weekend. Luckily, to be in the Yoga Alliance (formed in 1999) has set a minimum of 200 hours for instructors to be certified. Unfortunately, only 16,168 of the over 70,000 yoga teachers are actually in the Yoga Alliance. This is a very pertinent issue, especially when it comes to injury.

Wherever you chose to practice or work out, studio, gym or with a personal trainer at the beach, just make sure you listen to your own body and take care of yourself. If you don’t, nobody else can be expected to. Warm up before activity/exercise, then stretch when muscles are warm, and stretch for a longer amount of time after activities. For Weekend Warriors, if you can’t get to the gym other than weekends, be sure to stretch during the week for 10-15 minutes… it will make a world of difference! And If something hurts... stop doing it!

Generally this is the way my conversations pan out:

Person:”So what do you eat? are you a vegan?”

ME: “well, I am mostly vegan but I eat fish.”

Person: “Wait, whaaattt??”

ME: “I avoid dairy and don’t eat any food that walks around on land. I eat anything that comes from the sea, including fish.”

Person: “But, aren’t you raw?”

ME: “I mostly eat raw. I gravitate mostly towards raw, fresh, organic foods. But if I’m at restaurant with family or friends or on vacation, I’ll eat cooked foods like a piece of baked fish or steamed veggies.”

Person: “I’ve figured it out. You’re a vegetarian, then.”

ME: “No. I don’t eat dairy, and vegetarians do. Plus I eat fish, and vegetarians tend not to eat fish.”

Person: “OHHHH I Get it. You’re a flexitarian!”

ME: “Sure. I’m whatever makes it easiest for you.”

Are you 100% raw?

No, I am not completely raw. I consume a high percentage of raw food, probably somewhere between 75-85%. I will eat steamed veggies, quinoa, brown rice or a piece of sprouted toast with almond butter. If I go out to eat with friends I will have a piece of broiled or steamed fish with veggies and I have quite the sweet tooth. I’ve been known to polish off a fair amount of dessert, but I’ve learned to limit this over time because it just doesn’t make me feel good. Within an hour of eating the sugary dessert I remember why I don’t eat that way every day. I usually share a dessert and then I feel fine, I’m all for moderation of things we enjoy, not restricting.

Are you a vegan?

I probably eat fish once a week, so I’m not a vegan. I’m careful to research the latest eco-friendly and safe options for fish so that I don’t support any sort of negative treatment. It isn’t necessarily an ethical decision, overall I don’t like the taste of meat or the health negatives associated, like high cholesterol and high saturated fats.

When I moved to Los Angeles 7 years ago, I became much more aware of my likes and dislikes, and much more educated about the environmental impact created by eating meat. There is ample evidence in peer-reviewed scientific journals that mammals experience “not just pain, but also mental suffering including fear, anticipation, foreboding, anxiety, stress, terror and trauma,” says Prof Andrew Linzey, director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and author of Why Animal Suffering Matters. I would go to the farmers Market in Hollywood every Sunday and talk to people in the community and learn. I decided that within myself, I prefer not to potentially bring that emotional poison into my own being, but I absolutely don’t judge others that do. I’ve known since I was a child that I have an extreme sensitivity towards others and energies, and I may just be hyper sensitive to these feelings about animals as well.

I wear leather boots and have a beautiful leather bag, both from a trip to Argentina. My husband’s cousins own a leather company there. I consume raw honey and bee pollen. I make sure all the honey and bee pollen is from a good source where the bees are treated carefully, from local bee farmers. They never transport the bees to pollinate commercial corps, and they embrace traditional, local in-season-only, low stress beekeeping methods that help keep the bees healthy.

Vegan/Vegetarian/Pescatarian/Raw-Pick one!!!!

People enjoy categorizing.  In fact, many a psychological study indicate our brain naturally desires to put things into categories, to organize things and find relationships between new objects and those already stored in our brain.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an easy answer for you. This hasn’t been a quick and easy process for me. It takes intuition and learning about your own body and how it reacts to different things. My journey has 100% been about how things make me feel. Dairy makes my stomach hurt, no more of that. Meat doesn’t taste good, and has repercussions if we eat too much; no bueno.  Raw food makes me feel AH-MAZING… so I tend to eat as much of it as I can. Too much processed or cooked food makes me want to take a nap and not feel alive: NAH, I’ll drop that from my eating regime. We must learn to listen to our internal mechanisms. Just as women “know” when they are pregnant before seeing a physician, no doctor, health coach or expert can lead you 100%. You are your own expert!

The only advice I will give is to listen to your own body, figure out what works for you and to attempt to reduce the amount of red meat you consume (for health and environmental reasons). The red meat you eat today, will absolutely affect your children’s generation, either directly or indirectly. My dad’s health (his cholesterol) affected me by making me scared and more aware of the health implications.  This statistic makes me happy:

“More than a quarter of people say they eat less meat than they did five years ago. There is a shifting change in the diet,” says Ms Gellatley.

For more info on the benefits to eating organic, local food and more details on eating red meat, read the follow two posts:

Natural organic food explained

Eating meat, global warming and the environment

Generally this is the way my conversations pan out:

Person:”So what do you eat? are you a vegan?”

ME: “well, I am mostly vegan but I eat fish.”

Person: “Wait, whaaattt??”

ME: “I avoid dairy and don’t eat any food that walks around on land. I eat anything that comes from the sea, including fish.”

Person: “But, aren’t you raw?”

ME: “I mostly eat raw. I gravitate mostly towards raw, fresh, organic foods. But if I’m at restaurant with family or friends or on vacation, I’ll eat cooked foods like a piece of baked fish or steamed veggies.”

Person: “I’ve figured it out. You’re a vegetarian, then.”

ME: “No. I don’t eat dairy, and vegetarians do. Plus I eat fish, and vegetarians tend not to eat fish.”

Person: “OHHHH I Get it. You’re a flexitarian!”

ME: “Sure. I’m whatever makes it easiest for you.”

Are you 100% raw?

No, I am not completely raw. I consume a high percentage of raw food, probably somewhere between 75-85%. I will eat steamed veggies, quinoa, brown rice or a piece of sprouted toast with almond butter. If I go out to eat with friends I will have a piece of broiled or steamed fish with veggies and I have quite the sweet tooth. I’ve been known to polish off a fair amount of dessert, but I’ve learned to limit this over time because it just doesn’t make me feel good. Within an hour of eating the sugary dessert I remember why I don’t eat that way every day. I usually share a dessert and then I feel fine, I’m all for moderation of things we enjoy, not restricting.

Are you a vegan?

I probably eat fish once a week, so I’m not a vegan. I’m careful to research the latest eco-friendly and safe options for fish so that I don’t support any sort of negative treatment. It isn’t necessarily an ethical decision, overall I don’t like the taste of meat or the health negatives associated, like high cholesterol and high saturated fats.

When I moved to Los Angeles 7 years ago, I became much more aware of my likes and dislikes, and much more educated about the environmental impact created by eating meat. There is ample evidence in peer-reviewed scientific journals that mammals experience “not just pain, but also mental suffering including fear, anticipation, foreboding, anxiety, stress, terror and trauma,” says Prof Andrew Linzey, director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and author of Why Animal Suffering Matters. I would go to the farmers Market in Hollywood every Sunday and talk to people in the community and learn. I decided that within myself, I prefer not to potentially bring that emotional poison into my own being, but I absolutely don’t judge others that do. I’ve known since I was a child that I have an extreme sensitivity towards others and energies, and I may just be hyper sensitive to these feelings about animals as well.

I wear leather boots and have a beautiful leather bag, both from a trip to Argentina. My husband’s cousins own a leather company there. I consume raw honey and bee pollen. I make sure all the honey and bee pollen is from a good source where the bees are treated carefully, from local bee farmers. They never transport the bees to pollinate commercial corps, and they embrace traditional, local in-season-only, low stress beekeeping methods that help keep the bees healthy.

Vegan/Vegetarian/Pescatarian/Raw-Pick one!!!!

People enjoy categorizing.  In fact, many a psychological study indicate our brain naturally desires to put things into categories, to organize things and find relationships between new objects and those already stored in our brain.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an easy answer for you. This hasn’t been a quick and easy process for me. It takes intuition and learning about your own body and how it reacts to different things. My journey has 100% been about how things make me feel. Dairy makes my stomach hurt, no more of that. Meat doesn’t taste good, and has repercussions if we eat too much; no bueno.  Raw food makes me feel AH-MAZING… so I tend to eat as much of it as I can. Too much processed or cooked food makes me want to take a nap and not feel alive: NAH, I’ll drop that from my eating regime. We must learn to listen to our internal mechanisms. Just as women “know” when they are pregnant before seeing a physician, no doctor, health coach or expert can lead you 100%. You are your own expert!

The only advice I will give is to listen to your own body, figure out what works for you and to attempt to reduce the amount of red meat you consume (for health and environmental reasons). The red meat you eat today, will absolutely affect your children’s generation, either directly or indirectly. My dad’s health (his cholesterol) affected me by making me scared and more aware of the health implications.  This statistic makes me happy:

“More than a quarter of people say they eat less meat than they did five years ago. There is a shifting change in the diet,” says Ms Gellatley.

For more info on the benefits to eating organic, local food and more details on eating red meat, read the follow two posts:

Natural organic food explained

Eating meat, global warming and the environment

From January 1st to January 7th I challenge you to go Dairy-free.

That’s right folks: no milk in your cereal, cream cheese on your bagel or cheese with your wine! But you better believe it will be an incredible week and I will offer PLENTY of alternatives!!!!!

Reasons to avoid dairy:

• Dairy products may have a significant amount of dairy fat, which is animal fat. Any pesticides, hormones, or other unhealthy things that may be given to animals tend to be concentrated in their fat.
• Digestive issues. This is the number one reason I went Dairy-free.
• obesity and weight issues in children and adults.
• weak bones. no, you aren’t reading wrong! a study determined that women who drank 3 cups of milk per day lost bone mass.
• Diabetes. in fact, more than 90 studies have been devoted to the link between the protein in dairy products and the development of insulin-dependent diabetes.

Get the support you need at Philosophie… and we’ll do it as a team!

$29 includes:

• non-dairy recipes delivered to your inbox

• daily blog post with information, studies, research and personal support

• emails sent to your inbox with reminders, motivation and tips on eating out
  

• learn about yourself and your habits

• education and skills you get to keep for a lifetime

COMMIT TO YOUR HEALTH, MAKE ONE SMALL CHANGE, WITH SUPPORT!

Now that you’re ready to eat raw living foods,  you’re probably wondering what equipment and food staples you’ll need. You will need some basic kitchen equipment and food staples to get you started.

Kitchen Equipment

Appliances

1. Blender. If you have a good blender that is working fine, there is no need to rush out purchase a heavy duty blender. A heavy duty blender is great, but start where you are and work your way up. I am partial to the Vita Mix, but there are many heavy duty blenders on the market you can choose from.

2. Coffee grinder (optional). A coffee grinder is good for grinding flax seeds and other seeds and nuts. I have a Magic Bullet and it has an attachment for grinding seeds and nuts. You can also use a heavy duty blender for grinding, but most of the time you will need small amounts, so you may consider purchasing a coffee grinder.

3. Food processor. A food processor is good to have, but I don’t believe you need to have one, when you’re starting out. Why? Because a lot of things you can do with a food processor you can do with a good heavy duty blender.

4. Juicer. A juicer is good to have, but again, I don’t believe this is necessary when you are starting out. Don’t feel you need to purchase a top of the line juicer. Start small and work your way up.

5. Dehydrator. A dehydrator is good to have (not necessary), if you want to make dried fruit (my favorite!) crackers, breads and seasoned nuts and have other little treats on hand (especially during your transition). However, over time you will find that you will use your dehydrator less and less.

Other Tools

1. Mixing bowls

2. Rubber Spatulas

3. Knives

4. Cutting board (wood or bamboo)

5. Kitchen scissors

6. Colander

7. Garlic press

8. Mason jars

9. Measuring cups and spoons

10. Sprout bag or cheese cloth (for straining nut milks)

11. Fine mesh strainer

12. Vegetable peeler

Kitchen Staples

1. Fruit (dried and frozen)

2. Dried herbs and spices

3. Oils and Vinegars

4. Raw nuts and seeds

5. Sweeteners and Seasonings (sea salt, pepper, cayenne pepper)

6. Superfoods- carob or cocoa powder, maca,  sea vegetables, sun-dried tomatoes, etc)

7. Raw grains-buckwheat groats, oat groats, etc

8. Raw nut/seed butters

**Purchase fresh, preferably organic produce on a weekly basis.

R

Check out local farmers markets in your area!

Natural Organic Food

Consuming natural organic food is incredibly important, but the reason why isn’t always understood or clear. I’m writing this post to take a more in-depth look at some of the issues surrounding organic food and to help dispel common assumptions and bring a dose of reality to the table. One reality for me is that organic food really does TASTE BETTER. I am shocked just about every time I bite into an organic kiwi when compared to a regular one. Why? What makes it taste so much better? and what does it take for something to earn an “organic” sticker? Read on to answer these questions!

1. Why does Organic Food taste so much better??

Flavor in organic foods is so much better because of the healthy, well-balanced soil it grows in. This is why so many top chefs insist on using organic food in their recipes. Obviously, tastes and flavors are a personal matter, so see for yourself!

2. What does it take for the USDA to approve a food as “organic”?

• “Organic agriculture is an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony.

• “‘Organic’ is a labeling term that denotes products produced under the authority of the Organic Foods Production Act. The principal guidelines for organic production are to use materials and practices that enhance the ecological balance of natural systems and that integrate the parts of the farming system into an ecological whole.

• “Organic agriculture practices cannot ensure that products are completely free of residues; however, methods are used to minimize pollution from air, soil and water.

• “Organic food handlers, processors and retailers adhere to standards that maintain the integrity of organic agricultural products. The primary goal of organic agriculture is to optimize the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil life, plants, animals and people.

Okay… so what is organic food? summary please!

Though organic food can be produced with certain synthetic ingredients, it must adhere to specific standards regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Crops are generally grown without synthetic pesticides, artificial fertilizers, irradiation (a form of radiation used to kill bacteria), or biotechnology. Animals on organic farms eat organically grown feed, aren’t confined 100 percent of the time (as they sometimes are on conventional farms), and are raised without antibiotics or synthetic growth hormones.

A few more terms for piece of mind:

• Organic: A USDA-regulated label that says no pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, antibiotics, or growth hormones were used. Produce, meats, and dairy with a USDA Organic seal are 100% organic, while other foods may use the designation if 95% of their ingredients are organic.

• Natural: This label, regulated only for meat and poultry, signals that no artificial ingredients have been added. Don’t confuse the term with nutritious when, say, reaching for the Cheetos Natural Cheese Puffs.

• No hormones administered: An unverified certification that a cow was never given hormones in its lifetime. A “no hormones” stamp on pork and poultry is entirely irrelevant since, by federal law, chickens and pigs may not be given hormone injections.

• Cage-free: This egg carton label means nothing nutritionally and not much ethically. Cage-free hens can still be packed wing-to-wing in a windowless indoor space.

• Free-range: This USDA- defined, but unregulated, term means that a bird has outdoor access for more than half its life. Still, many free-range chickens live in crowded barns, with access only to a cramped yard.

• Grass-fed: Indicates only that a cow ate grass at some point in its life—always true, even of animals raised on big commercial farms. Look for “grass-finished” beef (the animal ate only grass in its final weeks) or “100% grass-fed.”

• Pastured or pasture-raised: Though unregulated, this term usually means that an animal has roamed grassy fields throughout its life.

Healthy food – Healthy Body

Bottom line: eat as many healthy, organic foods as you can for a healthy body and mind.

Organic foods may have higher nutritional value than conventional food, according to some research. The reason: In the absence of pesticides and fertilizers, plants boost their production of the phytochemicals (vitamins and antioxidants) that strengthen their resistance to bugs and weeds. Some studies have linked pesticides in our food to everything from headaches to cancer to birth defects — but many experts maintain that the levels in conventional food are safe for most healthy adults. Even low-level pesticide exposure, however, can be significantly more toxic for fetuses and children (due to their less-developed immune systems) and for pregnant women (it puts added strain on their already taxed organs), according to a report by the National Academy of Sciences.

Pesticide contamination isn’t as much of a concern in meats and dairy products (animals may consume some pesticides, depending on their diet), but many scientists are concerned about the antibiotics being given to most farm animals: Many are the same antibiotics humans rely on, and overuse of these drugs has already enabled bacteria to develop resistance to them, rendering them less effective in fighting infection, says Chuck Benbrook, Ph.D., chief scientist at the Organic Center, a nonprofit research organization.

Is buying organic better for the environment?
Organic farming reduces pollutants in groundwater and creates richer soil that aids plant growth while reducing erosion, according to the Organic Trade Association. It also decreases pesticides that can end up in your drinking glass; in some cities, pesticides in tap water have been measured at unsafe levels for weeks at a time, according to an analysis performed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). (To find out about the safety of your tap water, visit the EWG website at ewg.org/tapwater/yourwater.) Plus, organic farming used 50 percent less energy than conventional farming methods in one 15-year study.

When is it worth the extra $ dough $?
If you can afford it, buy local and organic. Farmers’ markets carry reasonably priced locally grown organic and conventional food; to find one in your area, go to localharvest.org. If you can’t always afford organic, do spend the extra money when it comes to what the EWG calls the “dirty dozen”: peaches, strawberries, nectarines, apples, spinach, celery, pears, sweet bell peppers, cherries, potatoes, lettuce, and imported grapes. These fragile fruits and vegetables often require more pesticides to fight off bugs compared to hardier produce, such as asparagus and broccoli. Download a list of produce ranked by pesticide contamination at foodnews.org, an EWG website.

When shopping for organic foods, always look for the USDA seal on any kind of packaged food. For meat and dairy, this seal ensures you’re getting antibiotic- and hormone-free products. When buying meat or produce that isn’t packaged, look for a sign stating that it’s organic, or ask someone that works there!

http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/ofp/ofp.shtml

http://localharvest.org

http://foodnews.org

In-Fighting in the Organic Movement: www.thedailygreen.com/2007/07/18/in-fighting-in-the-organic-movement/4075/

When It Pays to Buy Organic: www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/diet-nutrition/organic-products/organic-products-206/overview/index.htm<

Good source of organic information and news: www.organicconsumers.org

Visit eatwild.com for farms that sell pastured products

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/definitions/Organics#ixzz0UeFN4nKa

After visiting San Francisco about 5 times in the past 2 years knowing fully well about Cafe Gratitude, I finally made it. And it was more than worth the wait.

cut to today: walking about 20 blocks, taking the Bart and 2 buses, I arrived. I am here.

it’s no wonder it’s such a challenge for people to stay healthy, and especially raw, while traveling. Most people won’t endure the above trek in order to achieve a healthy meal.

After arriving… again after ordering, and while eating…and once again after I am finished: I feel such gratitude.

I feel thankful for this beautiful food, for the love and intention that goes into every bite and sip, for the gracious and kind staff, for small details such as the Question of the Day (today’s: What are you devoted to?) for The Present Moment, and for my deep awareness of my body and my health to bring me to such a conscious place for lunch.

Here’s what I ordered: ‘I Am Healthy” Green Veggie Juice, followed by “I Am Giving” Asian Kale Salad with Teriyaki Almonds, sea vegetables and sesame seeds. For dessert (you can’t skip dessert when doing a review for a restaurant-it wouldn’t be fair) I had the raw Pecan Pie called “I Am Perfect” with Pecans and Dates and a Macadamia nut crust. mmmm. Afterward, while walking around the beautiful store, letting my food digest and my heart absorb my surroundings, I sipped on a cup of mint green tea with ginger and spices. (“I Am Charmed”)

I consider it a treat to be in such an amazing environment. I definitely don’t take it for granted. Every time I walk in such a place, i feel humble and gracious.

I feel at home here. I can sit Indian style like I would at home. I can ask questions that matter to me and know that they will be acknowledged and respected. There is a lot of love being felt here… the staff just had a group hug, for example. This is exactly how life is in my bubble, in my head, in my heart.

For now, all i can say is that until I can create my own sanctuary, my own yoga studio-juice bar-restaurant-safe place…

I’ll be venturing to Cafe Gratitude to fulfill these desires.