MY Official Entry IMANcosmetics Fall 2010 Leather and Lace Contest

015 - Raw Granola Treat

The best way to describe this raw delight is crunchy&yummy. I love granola and have made it many times with many variations since I introduced raw foods into my regular diet. There are so many wonderful foods that I have added to my favorites list since starting raw food and I am sure that there will be many more to come. This treat was pretty simple to make and doesn't really take long to dehydrate (depending on how much crunch you want). You can choose any nut, seed, berry, bran, etc. that you would desire to snack on and add it to the ingredient list. I like raisins and dates for sweetness. For the nutty flavor I could choose from any two of this list:  almonds, pistachios, walnuts, sunflower seeds, cashews, macadamia nuts, and countless others. I also like the flavor that oats and almond butter or any nutbutter adds to this treat. I am not a huge fan of  honey but this is on recipe that I could enjoy it in. Most  often I use maple syrup. I would love to try some butterscotch and vanilla flavoring as well. So get wild and crazy with your raw granola recipe. Have fun making it and have even more fun eating it.

014 - A GREAT start to a healthy lifestyle!

Well, I wasn't able to remain true to my journey but I did discover some valuable information about myself and correcting behaviors. I seem to be under some sort of hypnotic trance when it comes to foods. I am only able to notice this when I do a raw juice and smoothie journey. At other times, I can see how my choices are greatly affected by my habits, moods, and community/environment. Nothing is unobtainable when it comes to increasing your choices toward good health and I will be the first to say, trial and error play a large role in reaching your healthy lifestyle goals.

So I didn't make it this time...so what? Next time I will be armed and dangerous when it comes to beginning my journey once more.So stick around and stay tuned. I will be back :-)

013 - Juice feasting and a different state of mind

It has occurred to me that when I take myself off the regular diet and journey down the road less traveled (drink raw juices and smoothies for a month), I began to feel differently about a lot of things. I go through a period of awakening and feel as if my eyes opened and my field of vision increased beyond what is normal. Today marked my sixth day on a thirty day quest to improve my overall well being through juicing and smoothie feasting. It works wonders. Like taking a wonderful vacation without ever really leaving. After the initial "shock" to my system, I love the way I feel and how I view things and wish to always eat like this. I broke my feast on the weekend to add a dinner meal and immediately noticed how quickly my mind returned to its normal state of being. I am very interested in seeing just how quickly I can return to my new found utopia when the weeks continue. (watch the video here)

012 - Cleansing your gut

Today marks day 6 of 30 on my juice and smoothie feast. I began August 1st and in one day will have completed a full week. I look forward to the post I will right at the end of this month detailing all the experiences I have had during my juice feast 30-day journey. For now, there has been a period of adjustment that I wouldn't want to go through again. The up-side to it all is that I no longer have the urge to cheat and eat my crunchy goodness comfort foods such as potato chips. I only want to succeed on this journey and follow it with an even more purifying quest for balance and harmony.


I have found it to be very peculiar how my mind and body work together. I have been a devout follower of my lower "self" and unknowingly accepted it as my life's guide. Whenever I make a conscious effort to stay true to my raw food lifestyle, there is always this voice that speaks LOUDLY telling me only that my urge to crunch should be satisfied and this voice is supported by brightly colored packages in the grocery isles. The packages are supported by the years and years of television advertisements that helped drill into my mind how "scrup-dilly-ishous" all those sugar sweet treats are and how CRUNCHY those "oh-so-delicious", "you can't eat just one", potato chips are. I believed them wholeheartedly and now the task that lays ahead of me is to dismantle that frame of thought so that a more balanced consciousness is allowed to flow freely through my entire body. With this I am looking forward to a greater ability to present "calm" wherever I go and to eradicate my fears of a less significant existence.

All this,....just because I am on a Juice Fast cleanse!

011-My juice feast makes me want to eat potato chips (lol)

I was searching on the web for a picture of potato chips so that I could write a blog about my 30-day juice feast and how much I would love to eat my all time favorite comfort snack (potato chips). Now I know that the raw food is the best way to eat and it has truly helped me in many, many ways. It's something about potato chips that make me want to munch away and now that I have found this gadget, I may have found the answer to my chip addiction (lol).

I know that the microwave isn't the best way to chow down on chips but what the heck, I am predominately a raw foodist and if and when I get the chance to eat chips, I think this little gadget will be the lesser of the two evils when it comes to a more healthy way to enjoy my favorite snack food.

010 - Revolution in Raw

Sometimes I wonder if keeping such a watchful eye on my diet is even worth the effort. Not that I no longer enjoy eating and living a raw food lifestyle but there are so many factors that affect the actual diet. For example: I believe I am eating raw when I make a "mock" tuna dish but when I find out that the nuts I used to make the raw dish have been processed (i.e. heated or cooked) then I realize that the meal isn't as raw as originally thought. Does this make any sense? I don't want to be misleading nor do I make a practice of lying to myself or others. I have found so many inconsistencies in the raw food diet that I have had to come to a decision. There has to be some sort of method that would allow for the incorporation of foods that come to the consumer via processing or heating to some degree. This has to be allowed without excluding those who use them from the raw food community. I have decided to enjoy the title of raw foodist by allowing approx. 25% of any meal I eat to be other than raw. This will ensure that the things I eat have a majority category of raw food.

So there it is my newest revolution in raw food. Make 75% of everything you eat RAW and that way you don't lose yourself in the minutiae of raw diets.