More Fruit = More Energy

I woke up so excited about fruit today!  I started with two bananas before my morning walk.  I decided to push myself this morning, to see if I could do more than last week.  And I did!  I walked four miles and still feel great, not worn out.  Last week I got in a total of 16 miles.  This week, I'm aiming for 20.
Fruit is so amazing. It is the perfect fuel for all of our cells. I'm off to have a pile or oranges for breakfast...

Orange Juicing for the Family

We made lots of orange juice this morning, using the Green Star juicer.  I had been using my little Cuisinart food pro with the citrus press attachment.  We were in danger of burning out the motor, trying to juice enough oranges for all of us.  There was more prep work with the Green Star, to be sure, but the actual juicing went much faster.  And the pulp was a lot drier!

We ended up with an assembly line, which greatly sped up the process.  Two people peeling, one segmenting, two young children feeding the pieces into the chute, and one person pushing the pieces down with the tamper.  I don't know how many oranges we juiced, but it was enough to satisfy the six of us.  I did have to clean the screen once, as I only have the fine screen meant more for veggie juices.

I think my oft neglected juicer is going to see a lot more action in days to come!

Listening to your body

More important than following an ideology is listening to your own body.  Yesterday, we were eating a big bowl of pineapple and my tongue started hurting like it had been burned.  I tried to eat more, but it hurt my whole month.  So, I stopped. 
Later, the image of an english cucumber came into my mind.  I grabbed one and ate it, sharing with my two-year-old.
My family is not 100% raw, and I made them a cooked dinner.  My body wanted that dinner!  I made a smoothie first, of bananas and blueberries and greens, to try to satisfy my hunger.  But it didn't work.  The smoothie tasted horrible to me and I could only finish half of it.  I tried eating tomatoes, and they burned my mouth like the pineapple did.
My body did not want anymore fruit.  Blaspheme?  No.
I have an almost five-month-old baby who is showing some signs of detox.  I think that I had to eat cooked food to slow down his detox, because he was having a rough time of it. 
I prayed about what to eat, because that's what I do, and I felt peaceful about eating the dinner I made for my family.  I still do, no regrets.
Am I back on the fruit train this morning?  Absolutely!  I'm going to try the Green Star Juicer to make orange juice.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Fruit by the case

This is what our fruit counter looked like this morning.  Two kinds of apples, oranges, bananas, cherry tomatoes, and pineapples.  Also shown is the dehydrator in the microwave spot, a bag of walnuts, and a container of almonds.

The banana basket and the orange basket get refilled about once a day.  That's 6-8 bunches of bananas.

I went to the store today and picked up two more cases of bananas.  It's hilarious, the comments I get from people, about pet monkeys and such.

I also took request from the family, and bought what they wanted:

Lyman (husband) - nectarines (he asked for peaches, best I could do)

DJ (9 yrs old) - strawberries

Gwen (7 yrs old) - pineapple

William (5 yrs old) - mango

Amanda (2 1/2 yrs old) - avocado

I am so grateful to live in this day and age where we can get such lovely, organic produce, even in March!

Here I Go!

Last December, I was reading in Green For Life, by Victoria Boutenko, about Clent Manich and his incredible weight-loss with green smoothies.  I knew it was time for me to give this a whole-hearted effort.  I also had been inspired by Annalise at Pulling Daisies and bought a copy of 80/10/10 by Dr. Douglas Graham.  Since December, I've been increasing my fruit consumption, decreasing my fat, and sometimes even going a couple of days all raw.
Well, now that I'm going public with it, it's for real.  No more excuses.  I have a whole life to live, and I want to live it to the fullest! 
I love what Victoria says in 12 Steps to Raw about how raw is not the goal, it is the means to the goal.  My primary goal is to have more children, as many as God wants to send me.  AND, I want to be the best mother I can be, patient, cheerful, loving, and energetic.  I know that eating a low-fat raw diet will help tremendously.  I know how happy and peaceful I feel when I eat that way for a few days, and I can't wait to see what it's like after a few weeks!