To all of my current subscribers, I am back and will begin updating my healthy lifestyles blog real soon.  Thank you for your patience!

~Starla

My Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs on my Raw Food Journey

Yesterday and the preceding days leading up to it were a struggle. Not so much a struggle to stay on the raw food diet regimen but I found myself feeling tired and sluggish more and more so as the days progressed forward. I was truly at my wits end. I have no desire for cooked foods anymore which is shocking in and of itself...I guess I'm growing or I've finally just stopped fighting my desire for cooked foods. At the suggestion of my Holistic Health Doctor I decided a lil over a month ago to go raw 100 %. I did a personal private juice fast for 17 days and I loved it. I felt better than ever. I lost 13 pounds or more, I say that because I was well into my juice fast before I weighed and once I weighed I kept track of my weight from there.

I broke the fast not in the traditional way...I kinda dug into a veggie sandwich with my daughter without thinking twice about it. Ok, so the bread was not raw but I have been 100% since that day. Now I'm eating solid food again and I have no appetite. I'm going all day with nothing to eat but a piece of fruit here and there. Some mornings I make a green smoothie and most mornings I don't. I'm also discovering that I'm seriously full after only haven eaten a couple bites. It really didn't bother me until yesterday. I began feeling lite headed and dizzy a couple times throughout the day and that kinda bothered me. However, I'm still not hungry and I haven't eaten at all yet and I still haven't made the connection. I actually began to think it was because I was 100% raw. Hey I'm no longer eating animals and everything I do eat is supposed to have lifeforce in it so why am I feeling sooo bad. I contacted a sistah friend on skype last night to discuss my dismay and she helped me to see that it was because I wasn't eating and it all made since.

I ended my evening close to midnight with a fruit salad. I awakened energized and ready to seize the day. I'm feeling better than ever right now.

Until next time!

Starla J.

Keeping It Simple in the Kitchen

WHATEVER IS LEFT IN THE FRIDGE SALAD

I visited my local farmer's market today. I bought a few organic fruits and vegetables. As I opened my refridgerator to put my purchases away I saw that I needed to make room. I took out almost everything and decided to throw it all together and create a fabulous meal for dinner.

Adding raw foods into your diet doesn't have to be as dounting as it seems. You don't need a $400 -$500 dollar blender. You don't need a dehydrator. I used a $20 dollar personal blendar similar to that of the magic bullet to make my salad dressing. All you really need is the desire to become healthy and to eat better. The best raw food meals are the ones you create on the fly.

Here is the recipe for my fabulous creation:

3 stalks of baby bok choy

1 head of corn

10 -12 stalks of snap peas

2 small heads of zucchini

a little bit of Purple cabbage

a lil' bit of onion

a handful of Cilantro

1 Tomatoe

1/2 Alvocado

Assemble any way you like.

MANGO LIME DRESSING

I don't really measure anything...I kinda throw a lil of this and that together but here is a list of what I used.

a lil' Olive Oil

2 small cloves of garlic

1/2 Mango

1 Lime

a lil bit of Apple Cider Vinegar

a dash of sea salt

a dash of cayenne pepper

3 dates

Blend till creamy.

ENJOY!

Raw Sausage Pizza

Ingredient List:

PIZZA CRUST:

1 medium zucchini

1 carrot

1 cup buckwheat (soaked)

3/4 cup sundried tomatoes, (soaked)

1 avocado

1 onion minced

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup flaxseed (ground)

1 cup sunflower seed (ground)

Process the buckwheat, tomatoes, avocados, onion, zucchini, carrot, sea salt until smooth. Remove to a bowl and add the flaxmeal and sunflower meal. Spread on two Teflex sheets, or Parchment paper. Score into slices and dehydrate for 3 hrs at 115. Flip the slices, turn the heat to 95 degrees and dehydrate for another 10 hrs.

Pizza Sauce:

1 cup sundried tomatoes

1 tsp oregano or more to taste

1 clove of garlic

1/2 tsp of basil

Blend together ingredients with just enough soak water to make a thick sauce.

Sausage:

2 medjool dates

1/2 tsp fennel seed or more to taste

1 cup walnuts

1 pinch of crushed red pepper or more to taste

1 dash ground red pepper

1/4 teaspoon each sea salt, pepper, oregano, basil

Process the walnuts till chopped. Add dates, fennel, basil, oregano, salt and pepper and process until it comes together. Form small meat balls and place in dehydrator...dehydrate 8-10hrs.

Mozzarella Cheese:

Blend together 1 cup of almonds (soaked), 2 tsp tahini, 1 tbsp Lemon juice, 1/2 tsp Nama Shoyu, or Braggs Aminos or Tamari, 1 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast. Blend till smooth in vita mix or other high powered blender. Let sit in fridge over night.

Assemble crust, tomatoe sauce, mozzarella, sausage, chopped onion, tomatoes, green pepper and or whatever other toppings you like!

Enjoy!

Peace, health and blessings,

Starla

Your Body is Your Temple #2 Proper Hydration

Greetings Fam! Today I will discuss the importance of making sure that your body is hydrated. If you just happen to feel thirsty, you can be certain that you are indeed dehydrated. Often while dieting we often hear that you need to drink at least 8 - 8oz glasses of water a day. Being that we all have different body sizes, which means to me that a person weighing 200lbs and a person weighing 130lbs will have different caloric requirements as well as water intake.

The human body is between 60 -75 % water. When you are not meeting the minimum hydration requirement there are a hosts of dire consequences on the body such as:

Constipation

Forgetfulness

Brain Fog

Weight gain

Inability to release weight

Toxicity

Kidney disfunction

Acne

Boils

Skin Rashes

Liver disfunction

Water Retention

Dry Skin

Mind you this is just a partial list. There are oh so many benefits that drinking adequate amounts of water will bring to the health of the body as well.

When you are drinking Soda's, artificially flavored and/or sweetened beverages you are drinking wet liquids that do not hydrate but continue to dehydrate. For optimum health and wellness it is important that you drink enough water on a daily basis for your body. How do you know how much is enough? Try drinking half your body weight in ounces. After about 2-3 days, you will begin to develop a natural thirst for water. If you still need a flavoring agent to help you get it down, try squeezing a slice of fresh lemon or lime in your water. You may also try herbal teas sweetened with a little stevia.


Remember, Your Body is Your Temple! Are you treating yours as such?

Check out my latest youtube video and join us this Sunday, May 24th at 9PM EST on BlogtalkRadio/living naturally (718) 508-9939

Health & Wellness to you!

Your body is Your Temple #1

Discipline is the KEY!