Gone Vegan, Be Back Soon!

Yep. I've gone vegan! About a week and a half ago, I started juicing with lots and lots of fabulous, mineral and vitamin rich veggies and fruits every day. I'm drinking at least 32-ounces of juice daily. I snack on raw fruits and veggies and have eaten a couple of meals out at a new vegan restaurant in town, the Cornbread Cafe.

I've eliminated all remaining animal products from my diet: seafood, eggs and dairy. I have easily adjusted to a plant-based diet. Satiated by an abundance of nutritious raw and vegan foods, I have increased energy and am dropping not only weight, but reducing my blood pressure too.

This all came about as a result of watching two documentaries: Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (instant play on Netflix). Joe Cross has a website as a follow-up to his film: Reboot Your Life. Forks Over Knives is a must see, which is now available on DVD. I just ordered a copy, as I plan to show it to everyone I love. I highly recommend them both!

It's been months and months since I've blogged, but I will get back to it soon. From now on, all my posts will focus on vegan cuisine and related topics. I will continue to enjoy the vegan recipes I've already prepared and shared here with you. For the time being, if you are reading this post and interested in juicing, I invite you to try my "The Beet Goes On" juice recipe featured on Healthy Juicing.

To Your Heatlh!

The Master Cleanse Lemonade

Since having surgery, I've been thinking about a body cleanse to rid myself of toxins, and post-op medications. I've come across the Master Lemonade Cleanse and am going to give it a try, starting tomorrow through Sunday. I hope it works for me. I do have a black pepper allergy, but not sure about cayenne pepper. I should know within a day or two. I'll report back how I did on The Master Cleanse Lemonade detox.

Before you try this cleanse, read the book The Master Cleanse by Stanley Burroughs or visit this The Master Cleanse website for more information about the The Master Cleanse. You can buy all the ingredients locally or order online a Master Cleanse 10-Day Organic Kit.



The Master Cleanse Lemonade is prepared by mixing the ingredients in the following recipe:

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice. Use organic lemons, fresh, not bottled juice. Limes may be substituted. Lemon zest and pulp may be added, making sure that the lemons are organic and not artificially colored or treated with pesticides

2 tablespoons of maple syrup. This must be pure maple syrup, not pancake syrup, Grade B, which has more color and nutrients than Grade A.

1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Water. 8 ounces, preferably spring water, but not tap water or chlorinated water. Drink 6-8 glasses minimum each day.

AnswerBag - It is recommended to do this cleanse either once a week or do it twice a year, spring and fall for 6-10 days. Galeanda claims to experience after a few days increased energy and after day 6 or 7 feels like it's time start adding foods very slowly into the diet, starting with veggies and fruits and maybe some rice. You can add a food group back as you feel the need. It is recommended to stay away from 'white' foods such as white sugar, white flour and processed foods for as long as possible."

Do not use honey in the lemonade.

Do not take any kind of supplements or vitamin pills or using illicit drugs. You shouldn’t smoke or drink alcohol, coffee, tea, cola. Evidently, when you are on this cleanse your cravings for them usually completely disappear.

No other food or drink should be consumed at all. If you get hungry, you can drink all the lemonade without harm.

To help you eliminate your bowels during this liquid cleanse, it has been recommended to either take Trifala (triphala) capsules (available at health food stores), drink an herbal laxative tea like Smooth Move or drink a sea salt water flush (2 tsp. with 32-oz. of luke warm water - listen to Jim's recommendation in the video below).

Watch this short video for making larger batches of the Master Cleanse Lemonade. I found this to be very helpful. Jim shops at Whole Foods for the ingredients, then takes it all home to make 32-ounce or 64-ounce jugs of the cleansing lemonade.

Let me do a little math for you here for larger batches. For every 8 cups of water, add 1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1 cup of Grade B pure maple syrup, along with 4/5 of a teaspoon, or to make it easier measure 3/4 of a teaspoon, of cayenne pepper. I mix and store this size batch in an empty distilled water jug. Shake well, before measuring out each 6-8 ounce serving throughout the day. One large batch provides your enough servings for one day of a 6-7 day cleanse.

New Year's Resolution - Eat Less, Walk More

Walk along with our Erickson-Bisch shadows as we chat about our New Year's Resolution to eat less, walk more. Drop in on a short segment of our conversation as we walk 3.5 miles through King Estate's vineyard on a beautiful, crisp January 3, 2010 afternoon. Wait for the winery to come into view.

If you don't own a pedometer, I highly recommend you get one and start walking with us. Read the stickK Experts Word on Getting from Resolution to Real Change and visit Wonders of Walking for inspiration. I took a 12-week contract out on myself last year with stickK to exercise/walk 3 or more times a week. My daughter was my referee. If I didn't met my weekly goals, I set up my contract commitment to send money from my checking account to a non-profit I did not want to support... if I failed. Worked like a charm; I met every goal for 12 weeks. I just renewed my commitment for 2010.

A note about weight control: While at the used bookstore the other day, I picked up a 10-year old booklet Amazing Apple Cider Vinegar, which happened to be sitting on top of a pile of books I was passing by between bookshelves. An odd coincidence, as earlier in the week I was thinking about adding cider vinegar to my daily regime to aid digestion and weight control.

The recommendation is to drink a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of warm water before each meal to melt away excess pounds. The author Earl L. Mindell claims that it works, although no one really knows why. He suggests that it either (1) really does burn calories, (2) takes the edge off of the appetite or (3) just fills the stomach. No matter what the science proves to be, the effect is the same - weight loss. I'm willing to give it a try, besides, apple cider is known to have many curative benefits to our health... to numerous to mention here, but there are many publications and online resources out there dedicated to the subject of apple cider vinegar.

If you are thinking about adding another cookbook to your library, I recommend The Sustainable Kitchen published in 2004 by Stu Stein, Mary Hinds and Judith H. Dern to share their passionate cooking inspired by local and regional farms, forests and oceans. At one time, Stu Stein was the executive chef at King Estate Winery.