Composting.

The older I get the more interested I am in sustainability. Plus I have a great friend who has green fingers and is a great educator on all things  healthy, green and garden related.

We have been juicing for a month now. Yey us.  One thing I have had a conscience over is all the pulp we throw out. I am not the much of a kitchen goddess were I will collect it freeze and makes soups etc.  Not yet!  But if anyone wants it let me know.

I have decided to compost as I would like a garden this year.  I have decided that the containers I had were not working very well. They were ugly, I couldn't make the pretty and as I am a visual artist this effected my whole attitude toward garden last year which coincided with a bout of depression. A tragic combination. Ugly things and no motivation.

I read a little on composting, lined the bottom with twigs, pine needles leaves and then soil from my old containers.  Then added all the veg, pulp.  I still have to drill some air vent holes to let it all breath, and then turn it once in a while.  I know I have to watch the moisture content too.

I have my gardener friend Sarah Beal who I'm sure will be my compost guardian. 

Any tips, advice please dont hold back..

Publishing my poetry

I am self publishing a poetry book. I have a collection of over 70 poems written over the years. I am also having illustrators illustrate my poems. So far I have over 10 illustrators involved from a site called Deviant Art, a place were artists of all kind post their art work. Most are not professional but of a very high standard. I have invited them to read the poems and then choose a few that they would like to illustrate. The book is a collaborative art project. I even have one of the local business owners who heard about it and wants to illustrate. If anyone is interested in illustrating or has any advice to give I am a open book.. Ha!

I would like to broaden my horizons with poetry. I like some Byron, Elizabeth Bennett Browning, Dickinsion, Poe, T.S Elliot, Milton, and Yeats. Please share you favorite poem, haiku, limerick, and recommend poets or books.


Thanks

Update on Juicing

Aaron and I enjoying this so much we want to incorporate this into our lives on a long term basis. We want to always be juicing. To make this more of a long term part of our lives and not just counting down till we can eat again, we have decided to eat vegan in the evenings, if we want to. We can still have juice but if we want whole foods in the evening then its ok.

We are staying away from meat, and sugar completely for the the two months and hopefully for ever as part of our regular diet, purely for health reasons. We love meat and sugar and who doesn't want to indulge once in a while but as part of our every eating habits they will be gone.

We are still juicing at least 2-3 times a day. Its such a simple clean way of eating. I feel great, Aaron has more energy and now all the cravings are gone its not so hard.

We will be trying out new recipes this week with juicing too.

Aarons Fiery fiesta Juice

Peppers
jalapenos
Cucumber
chard
spinach
apples
celery

We had this yesterday it was hard to get down as it was so spicy but it was ok

Day 4 & 5 juicing

Yesterday was a breakthrough for our juicing it was the first day I felt good and like my old self again. I felt juices giving me energy and clear thinking. I actually started enjoying things again.  Last night I had some steamed broccoli and a half a sweet potato.  It was the best.  I cant tell you when i last enjoyed a plate of steamed veg.  But now I did that I am no longer dying to eat something.  We have found a way of making our juice better. We add a lime or extra lemon.

Aaron has lost a total of 11lbs and I about 9lbs I think.  No cravings for fast food or sugar which is good. 

Tuesday 10th Jan
Lunch - mean green

bunch of kale
2 celery
1 cucumber
4 apples
1 lemon + rind
1 lime + rind
ginger

it was the best one so far. Tart as I added the extra lime and apple. I managed the whole juice.

 Wednesday 11th Jan

 breakfast - carrots n apples

6 carrots
2 apples
2 oranges
2' ginger
1 lime

yummy.. finally over my slump and taking it in my stride and dare i say liking it



So this might be my new morning juice.   The mostly fruit sent my blood sugar a little high making it more carrots helped.

Lunch today will be another mean green i think. I know I can handle that.

Day 3 really tough

Right now I'm hating this with a passion.  I hate fruit and the smell of fruit and veggies.

This mornings juice was good, the usual yummy fruit with carrots.  Then lunch hit. I dread lunch deep inside me, knowing I will have to face a veggie juice.  This lunch time was particularly horrific.  The juice was awful. Aaron chugged and said it tasted like a salad.  The cucumber  was a little overwhelming. I carried mine around with me most of the afteroon before admitting defeat. I had, had 1/4 of my juice.

suck it up you might think but in reality this is huge for me. Even before this I NEVER ate raw food. Why?  I dont like the way it tastes. I know that our taste buds have been hijacked by sugar and high fructose corn syrup, which is why I wanted to do this in the first place but I dont think I really considered how hard I would find even the taste.  As those who know me, know I have texture issues. I dont like crunchy food, really crunchy food like most raw foods.  I even struggle with salad and cut it into very small pieces. It seems however texture wasnt the only thing stopping me from eating raw its the taste too.  It makes me shudder.

Today I am also mourning food in a way. The real dependance on food as a comfort has reveled its self. I am depressed, unmotivated and feel that I have nothing good to look forward to in my days now.  It shames me to say it, but that's how I feel.  When dealing with daily life and the things we dont typically want to deal with, there would be a treat later to make myself feel good.  Coffee, chocolate, dinner, whatever it was I found happiness in things that taste good.   But like a drug it only lasted a moment.  Then on to the next good thing to taste. Of course most of them consisted of sugar or some kind of carb.

I saw a DVD the other day that touched on just that within our culture.  The high we get from food.  But if i compare this to some of things I have been through in life this doesn't even make the top 100.  I'm learning that I can function on less food.  That in reality nothing has changed except my access to certain foods.. I have lost 6lbs in 3 days and Aaron 7.5lbs.   That is what is keeping me going. Seeing the scales go down everyday.


There is a genuine worry though. If I cannot break through the taste thing and start taking in enough juice I could get sick. So If that becomes a concern, then I will have to take one meal - Dinner and eat steamed  and cooked veggies instead of a juice.  I will cross that road when I come to it.  I am going to give myself a good 7-10days before making that decision. Its early days yet.

Aarons dinner juice has given me hope it tastes really good.

Breakfast -
1/2 pineapple
2apples
punnet of strawberries
2 carrots

It was good

 

Lunch - brown crap

2 cucumber
4 leaves chard
1 celery
2 apples
2 tomatoes
3 oranges

YUK YUK YUK

I hated this one. To much cucumber couldn't stomach it had 1/4 of my juice. now im starving and being moody.

 

Dinner - Very Berry Nice

Chard
4 Radishes
2 oranges
1 grapefruit
blackberry's
grapes
2 pears
1/2 cantaloup

it was very intense but good

 bg 111 @ 7am

Day 2 juicing

Its Sunday and our meeting has been moved to 1pm.  I love it. I get to lie in and still have time to do my watchtower. Of course its also an excellent time to go out on the ministry but this morning i stay in bed as long as I can to avoid having to make a juice.

I finally get up and make a juice at 9.30am.  Sit down and do my watchtower.

Breakfast - Orange sizzler  (bg 129)

half a pineapple
half a honeydew
2 carrots
2 apples
2 oranges

this was so yummy just add some alcohol and bingo im on the beach.

 

I have been making my own juices and giving them fun names.  This morning I could not face a veggie juice so I made one that I knew would be really yummy.  I added carrots to ease the guilt of mostly fruit.

I took half of my juice to the meeting in case I was super hungry and it worked. Aaron stayed home today he was really suffering from caffeine withdrawals and had terrible headaches.  I came home from the meeting to find him tucked up in bed.

I brought a bunch of herbal tea as i read that its fine and helps with you water intake.  Aaron has been trying to persuade me that decaf coffee is ok too. I am not so sure so have a little research to do. But I think that herbal tea stimulates the release of toxins.   Whereas the body treats coffee like food and inhibits the detoxing process.  However if my research turns up that decaf coffee in fine to drink its party central here. 

Late lunch - Purple Burple  (2pm bg111)

1 pack of strawberries
1 pack of blackberry's (not good for juicing)
1 pack of broccoli
bunch of kale
2 stalks of celery
2 apples
2oranges

nice dark purple colour broccoli is the prominent taste here.. Aaron loves it i think its ok, less broccoli next time.

Its 10pm Im hungry and this is hard.  I just want to eat something.  (bg 90)

Day 1 Juice Fast

Today has been the first day of our juice fast.  59 days to go.  It was tough today.   I was a little hungry but that's because I am only managing half my juice at this stage. The raw food taste is still a bit much for me. I am having to add an extra orange, apple or pear to sweeten it so I can drink it. However I can still taste the greens it them.

I have had a headache all day but not too bad.  My stomach feels full, its been making lots of noise. Its hard not putting solid food in my mouth and I have been collecting recipes I can make when we come off the fast March 7th.    I slept for a while to pass the time.

Its funny how food is connected to everything we do. It felt we had nothing to do today, cant go out for coffee which is our fav past time. Going out usually involves eating somewhere. So i slept a little.  We will have to find other things to do outdoor, this was one of the things I wanted from the fast. To sever us from our currant relationships and challenge us from the norm not just on food but the things we do in our spare time.

If today is the worst of how I will feel I can manage it. Its going to be very tough. But I am motivated by the results that I am told will follow. Clear thinking, energy, low blood sugar and weight loss.


Here is what we ate today.

Breakfast  - (10.00am bg 182)

First Juice of our 2 month Juice fast this morning. Its a bit tart but yummy and there is so much of it. Will take me a while to get through it all. Berry's would have made it awesome.

3 oranges

3 apples

2 grapefruit

1 lime

1 piece of ginger 2" 

Was meant to have cranberries but didnt have any. Any berry would have made this great.

Lunch -Green juice  (2pm bg 126)

1 bunch kale
4 sticks of celery
1.5 bunch of spinach
ginger
2 cucumbers
3 apples
had to add 2 oranges to mine as the green was a bit to strong for me

Dinner - ABC Juice (9.36pm bg 121)
2 Apples
2 carrots
half cabbage
half honeydew
3 pears
3 leaves of Chard

not bad! want a burger tho

 So on to day 2...