Vol. 1, Issue 23: December 9, 2007

WEEKEND EDITION

From The Desk of The Divas

(This picture was taken earlier this week outside Tera's back balcony!) 

We've had a GREAT response from people who are planning to attend our Raw Diva Winter Potluck, and this is very exciting news! Based on the availability we've been getting from many of you, we've finally settled upon a date:

December 23rd!

We'll be doing it at Tera's house unless the confirmations exceed capacity, in which case, we'll come up with another solution, or just get cozy!

For those of you who are planning to travel in from out of town, let us know and we'll do what we can to help you out!

As we alluded to in Thursday's message, we have BIG news. Bigger than any project or product we could ever announce! It's the biggest and best news EVER! In fact, since putting out a teaser, a few people have guessed it! 

And since we do so love getting cheerful messages from you, we'll keep the suspense up for a bit longer! Anyone who would like to wager a guess, is welcome to contact us! The first 10 people who guess will win a prize!! 

Ask the Diva: Our Best Answers to Your Burning Questions!

How do I get enough greens with out getting sick of greens? 

That's easy! Sign up for the Green Smoothie Queen's 3 Day Challenge and learn the ropes of incorporating green smoothies into your diet. The program itself is only $5, and $3 of that fee goes to Greenpeace!

The 7 Day Detox went so well for me. I was super disciplined, and even ate 90% raw at my dad's 60th birthday bash(3tbsp of cooked food)the day after my detox ended. Now I'm 1 week after, though, and i've been really slipping! I know that the BES should get me back on track, but i'm afraid about the time until then (beginning JAN). Oh, woe is me! I'm so weak!

Whoa, Sista! First of all, give yourself a HUGE pat on the back for a successful detox. Second of all, recognize that you're engaged in a process. Think of the number of years that have gone into setting your current eating and lifestlye practices in place. Don't expect these patterns to resolve themselves over night. 

It's true that people who have participated in the 30 Day Body Enlightenment System have experienced HUGE benefits from having an entire month supported by a fantastic community! You can read the success letters of past participants here! 

But one of the things about BES which is unlike other programs that are centered around a particular number of days, is that this one has a lifetime membership

I've been looking on a lot of different raw food websites. Some people warn about the dangers of mixing different raw food philosophies. Some people swear by green juices and say we should be drinking wheat grass juices every morning. Others rave about superfoods like maca, mesquite, bee pollen and goji berries to name but a few. Do you think i should take any supplements? Do you take any? 

Nope. I don't take any supplements at all. But that's me. I really think each of us needs to be responsible for finding the information, tools and lifestyle choices that bring us to good health as individuals. What's right is what's right for YOU!

It would be harmful, I believe, to say that all people need one thing, or that one path is right for everyone. I say this every week, but the fact is, your road to health can only be walked by you, and the best way to find out what works is to try it, get some practical field observation and make decisions accordingly.

With a background in science and field study in primatology, I'm fortunate to have learned this in the "lab" so to speak. If you want to know if any information is valid, apply it, observe the results and make your decisions accordingly. There are so many factors that play into the nutirional qualitiy of food and a person's ability to digest and assimilate nutritients, that it would literally be impossible to isolate a single miracle solution for humanity.

I don't believe supplements are necessary for me. I know this only by observation of my conditions and physical health, and yes, occasionally blood tests. So, no, I don't take them.
 
I just eat the foods I'm attracted to and observe the reactions of my body. I also make sure I get enough sleep, pursue a life that is active and passion-filled! I spent time cuddling with my kids and work hard because I love challenging myself to create, produce and get stuff done.

I also spend 30-40 hours a week studying personal development and spirituality. If anything has shot my level of health and energy through the roof, it is that. There's more and more "proof" all the time that thoughts affect things. My ideas, thoughts, attitude and understanding of life is in very large part responsible for my very good health.

If you'd like some tips, support or suggestions in this regard, then let me know. I'm always delighted to share the tools I use as they have helped me enormously--beyond what food ever could.

This week I had a private coaching call with a woman who has been working diligently to apply a very clean 100% raw food diet for over 7 years and I'd like to share with you a bit of what was addressed in that call:

The main issue is, I just can't seem to stay 100% raw for longer than about three months.  I really want to because I feel better, but I just get to a point where I feel I need to eat some cooked food and then when I finally give in and have something, this last time it was fish, then I find myself eating more cooked food, a little here and a little there.

 I get motiviated to try 100% raw again and really feel I won't ever want to eat cooked food again but then a few weeks or months later, the same thing happens.  I've been doing this for about seven years now but for most of those years it really didn't bother me that I wasn't 100% raw but now it does, mainly because it seems anything other than fresh fruit and greens is contaminated in one way or another. 

I definitely eat primarily raw food, and at home only raw, but I seem to constantly be thinking about eating cooked food.  I mean I think about eating stuff I didn't even eat when I ate mainly cooked food.  Considering the amount of time I think about eating junk, its a wonder I'm still mainly raw.  I really want to stop thinking about food and what I'm going to eat or what I should or shouldn't eat. Yikes, how did eating get so complicated?"

I absolutely loved connecting with this client, and if she's reading this, she needs to know how much I adore and appreciate my connection with her. Now, how did food get so complicated?

Well, as soon as we place a tremendous amount of restrictions or assign the value of "Bad" "Wrong" "Negative" to anything, we're practically asking the universe to throw it at us in volumes. Avoiding something is never the way to get it out of your life. Confronting it is.

Personally, I've seen people who've applied the raw food diet for as many as 12 years, finally pack it in, hands raised in the air, having fully realized that this was NOT the path for them.

Some might see this as defeat, but in fact, having observed the process first hand, it was an unquestionable victory. Being willing to walk your own path is an empowering thing.

This week's article addresses some of my responses to this client and my own insistence on finding a path that is harmonious and free of food roller coasting and obsessions.

CHRISTMAS SUPPLEMENT! Hallmark, Eat Your Heart Out!
6 Great Christmas Gift Ideas for the Holidays

While I'm all for the glitz and glitter of Christmas, there's something about the season that I have found rather overwhelming in the past. It's the feeling of obligatory gift-giving, excessive spending and the fact that kids are too often left out of the "giving" part of Christmas and get all out of whack when they get presents dumped on them in mass quantities just because they're cute!

Being single makes things easier, but as a divorced mother with divorced parents and having had a boyfriend with divorced parents meant an obscene quantity of gifts coming in and going out. At one point the grandparent count was 10! UGH!

Christmas can be a very unsettling time for children, too. Unless they are actively involved in the creation and preparation of gifts themselves, Christmas puts them WAY out of exchange with others. I am really careful to stretch the gifts out over several weeks and make sure they have to time and space to honor and appreciate each gift. I also get them actively involved in making gifts to give to others as much as possible, though it's admittedly hard to keep up with.

Unless given opportunities to reciprocate the exchange, whether consciously or not, it can be extrememly overwhelming to receive, receive, receive. I mean, most of us know that feeling intimately. It doesn't feel good to only be on the receiving end of things. It's not any more comfortable for children, though their discomfort may manifest itself in different ways.

Watching relatives race to shopping malls to get last minute, obligatory tokens of exchange sorta put me off of the whole thing, too. I've not officially boycotted Christmas, yet, but I've definitely voiced my choice to participate according to my interest and capacity.

So, I actually don't go out and buy Christmas presents. I mean, I just don't do it anymore and I like that. 

I have been known to indulge in some moderate spending at a local craft store, however, and put together some gorgeous gifts that come from the heart. Here are some of my favorites that have been tried in the past and for the most part, were received exceptionally well.

Homemade Christmas Ornaments
(About a $20 investment for an endless supply of decorations.)

You can pick up a big jug of epsom salts or dead sea salt at most drug stores or health food stores. If you want to shop around for a bulk brice, you can do that, too. If you've got some essential oils kicking around, then mix them in. Salt is a perfect mediums for absorbing essential oils, and when placed in a bath, it diffuses them into the water evenly!

Plan on a maximum of 8 drops per bath. Put in the desired about of oils and salts and write up some instructions so the receiver knows how much to put in. Mix up your salts and oils, and pour them into a gorgeous bottle, or jar. You can find little treasures like these in second hand stores pretty easily. Get creative and be willing to try stuff.

It's best if the container is glass, as essential oils will dissipate if left in breathable containers.

You can play the part of a professional perfumer as you blend a soothing or stimulating combination of essential oils together. If you'd like more tips, contact us. I have a very extendsive background in aromatherapy and loads of tricks tips and even blending supplies to pass on if you're interested!

Homemade ToothPowder

If you haven't read my blog entry on toothpowder, check it out here. Anyway, it would make for a cute little stocking stuffer, if covered in a pretty ribbon!

I've not tried this yet, myself, but if you wrapped it with a handsome toothbrush and some dental floss, I think it would be a fantastic stocking stuffer!

Homemade Candles

This is a bit more complicated, maybe, but not impossible. Home-dipped, beeswax candles are a gorgeous gift to give and a really fun activity to do with kids!

Home-decorated Plates, Napkins, Glasses and T-shirts!

One year for Christmas we went to an old restaurant wholesaler and bought loads of beautiful white plates and bowl for a great price. Then we went to our local craft store and bought ceramic paint. It's super cheap and so much fun. The come in little plastic bottles in every color imaginable. We printed with the paint onto dishes and then gave sets of dishes to people for Christmas that the kids had decorated!

You can also buy paints for fabric and decorate napkins, table cloths, or T-shirts! There are great tubes of paint for glass that you can use on mirrors, mugs and wine glasses!

Just spending about $20 on a few colors of any of these paints, and hitting your local second hand store for some handsome bits and pieces of dishes, glasses, etc. and you're in for an endless string of personalized, creative Christmas gifts that will be a sure hit with just about anyone.

A Heart-felt, Hand-written Letter

Some of the best gifts I've given have been letters. Just taking the time to thoughtfully or creatively express your thoughts and feelings for a person is a tremendously valuable gift. Especially these days when everything is electronic, getting a beautiful, hand-written letter is a real treat! Taking the time to recall fond moments spent together, and to really validate someone who has contributed to your life, is an extremely valuable thing to do. For both you and the recipient of your letter.

Reconnecting with someone you've not written to in years is also a marvelous gift to give!

Apple Butter!

I know, I know! This isn't a raw food recipe, but it's so easy to do and a much healthier alternative to what most people put on their plates, that you can't go wrong. Here in Quebec we have LOADS of apples at this time of year. You just put them in a pot and cook them until they make a thick, caramelly butter! Pop them in some jars while they're warm, let them seal by putting them in the fridge, then decorate with a cute little, appley label, Christmas ribbon and give with love! It's just apples and it's totally yummy!

Okay, here are a few others...

A Raw Food Recipe book, filled with stickers, pictures and hand-written notes!

A fruit basket with recipes inside!

All the ingredients a person needs to make a particular raw food recipe, with ingredients and maybe a little kitchen tool (vegetable peeler) included!

Sebastian's Raspberry Bliss
by Sebastian Botkin (4 yrs old)

Definitely one of the best ways to get more raw foods into the kids is to make them masters of their own creations! This week Sebastian was particularly busy in the kitchen, and this was one of his success stories that make the roommates "Ooooh and Ahhhh."

Ingredients: 

2 cups of fresh raspberries
3 bananas
1 cup of water
2- 3 handfuls (a 4 year old's hands) of spinach
1 stick of celery
 


Directions: Plop all ingredients in the blender in any order you like, keeping the celery stick out to stir. When things are blended, drop the celery stick and once it's completely disappeared and pulverized, turn off the blender, pour into pretty glasses and serve with a smile!

Feature Article: 
Cooked Food Compromises: When Ultimatums Don't Cut It!
by Tera Warner

This time of year more than any other is just downright tough for most Raw Foodists. Even  long time Raw Food enthusiasts get a bit chilly around this time of year.

For those of you who have no problems with fruit and greens 4 seasons of the year, then more power to you!

For the rest of you, however, we thought it might be helpful to let you know where we stand on the subject of cooked food compromises.

After 3 years of working personally with clients, I am convinced that ultimatums are a dead end road. As soon as we put a big "Forbidden Foods" list in front of our faces, we end up with bingeing, guilt trips and food obsessions!

It is more harmful to continually put your body through a raw food roller coaster, cold foodthan to find a happy medium and stick to it. I've said in the past, I would prefer that 80% of the population be 60% raw than 4% of the population be 100%.

The goal, remember, is not putting a "Raw Foodist" stamp on your forehead at the end of the day. We're engaged in the pursuit of health, high energy living and ideally we're doing this in a way that takes environmental impact of our choices into consideration as well.

So, if you're not willing to have a hard-core Christmas, then here's what I recommend you take into consideration. When restrictions are removed the urgency to indulge, or overeat on "forbidden foods" vanishes.

One of the ways I like to approach nutrition and eating is sensibly. I don't believe that it requires an ability to decipher enzymatic, anti-oxidant and amino acid vocabulary to be able to thrive. If that was the case, we'd all be in trouble. 

Whatever you're considering eating, just look at your body, look at the food on your plate and ask yourself:

"Does this make sense?"

Is the food something you could find easily in nature?

You may be able to find wheat, for example, in nature, but in its natural state it is very indigestible to humans.

Would it taste good if you just added heat?

If you are going to eat cooked foods, then I highly recommend sticking to the foods that make sense. A slice of grilled fish, a baked potato and steamed broccoli makes a lot of sense to me. More sense than a "raw pie" loaded with dates, avocado and almonds. 

I've felt much, much worse eaing complicated raw food recipes than I have eating healthy, simple cooked food like steamed greens or a sweet potato.

If you need to add a bunch of spices and sauces for your food to be attractive and digestible, then I would say leave it aside. Also, the extra sauces and spices are in large part responsible for the desire to overeat. These are the mechanisms of stimulation-addiction and the kinds of things that send the floodgates open. There's only so much baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli a person can eat. But start smothering them in butter and cheese sauces and you have yourself a whole other story.

Keep your cooked foods simple and sauce free. This will help you hold in line your own limits and leave you feeling relatively well, even if it is a meal of cooked food.

Avoiding the sauces and spices will also help you to choose better foods. Beans, legumes, pasta and most grains taste rather boring without salt and sauces, so best avoid them. 

Chances are you'll aslo find that it's much easier to control your cooked food consumption when you've removed your restrictions about it. When the food is no longer "forbidden" obsession moves aside. You don't have that lingering ultimatum telling you that "THIS, will be the LAST time you EVER eat cooked food!"

So, summing up, then stick to these:

Vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and peas taste perfectly scrumptious without doctoring them up with spices and sauces. In fact, I find most vegetables tast quite nice steamed lightly. Sweet potatoes, pumpkins and squashes of all kinds are super tasty, too! Also, a simple piece of grilled fish or meat usually doesn't require anything for it to be appetizing to most people. Just think of the foods you could find in nature. Then, if you can add fire and keep the flavor without having to add a bunch of sauces, I think you've hit a winner.

So, there it is. 

If ultimatums are not on your plate, then these are my top recommendations for what to put there instead. Remember that the joys of being with good people, celebrating life and all her sparkly pleasures is REALLY good for your health. Make that your priority and the rest will fall in place I'm sure of it.

Registration Deadline: December 13th!

SIGN UP AND JOIN US FOR:

Bring in 2008 Diva Style

We'll be hosting a very special version of our
Body Enlightenment System starting with a preparation week on New Year's Eve! 

Official Program Start Date, January 5, 2008!
(after the family feasts are OVER!)

Contact us to put your great ideas here!

If you would like to send The Raw Divas feedback, suggest a "Health in High Heels Newsletter" topic, or ask a question that could be featured in a future issue of "Health in High Heels", please do not hesitate to send us a message customerservice@therawdivas.com. Please note that we are unable to offer medical advice.

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