What a great conference call the other night! If you missed it and are looking for the playback number it's (712) 432-1590 and the access code is 852622#.

It's great to know that we can do the raw "thing" and actually save money. We just have to be creative. I know some people wanted me to repeat the list of fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticides consistently and the lowest consistently. Here they are..............................

Highest levels (also referred to as the "dirty dozen):

Peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes.

Lowest levels:

onions, avocados, frozen sweet corn, pineapple, bananas, mangoes, asparagus, frozen peas, kiwi, cabbage, broccoli and papaya.

Washing and peeling can reduce levels of some pesticides but doesn't totally eliminate them.

This information was found and published by the Environmental Working Group at http://www.ewg.org/

Shop local and look for the produce that has the lowest levels of pesticides and if you are stuck going to the grocery store, apply the same rule.

Good eatings!

Follow your Bliss!

I had the most amazing green smoothie this morning....i love how i feel!!

1 cup almond mylk
revitaphi (check it out on my website at www.rawblisssuperfoods.com )
1 banana
5 strawberries
1 tbsp maca (also check out on above website)

a little bit about revitaphi- "this potent green superfood is blended with rare trace elements, the enzymes, and over 40 pro-biotics, for maximum transformational capacity and weight management"

When I first began eating raw, I thought that it was going to be so difficult, but the more that I live this way, the more simple it actually gets. I remember before I ate this way, I always fel that I was trying to decide what I was going to eat. It seemed that this thought consumed me most of my day. With the way I eat now, it is so easy and I eat so much nutritious food that I don't feel like i walk around hungry. I am working towards Gabriel Cousens' idea of intuitive eating. I wopuld love to get to that point, where I truly just ate what I needed and my body, mind and soul could be so fine tuned that I could just feel that.......it's a journey!

Have fun with it and Follow your bliss!

Are we looking at what's really important?

I was in a situation the other day and this women was asking me how many calories were in a raw dessert that I had made. She kept commenting over and over again at how many calories were in almond butter and how fattening it was. I asked her to give me an idea of what she ate and she mentioned that she had a Weight Watchers entree for dinner the night before. I asked her if she read the ingredienton the box and if she knew everything that she put in her body. She said she didn't know. I wasn't trying to embarrass her, I was simply trying to wake her up from the years of being lost in all the wrong information that we have been given.

I am not pointing this out to judge, just the opposite. I am pointing it out so that we can all become more aware of the things that we should be aware of. It's not all about how many calories are in the foods that we consume- but what is in the foods that we consume???? Imagine getting to the point where you never had to read labels or be concerned with calories because everything you ate was in it's whole form or combinations of things in whole form. Most of what you ate would have no more that 5 or 6 ingredients in it. Imagine eating only things that your body could actually break down and use for healing purposes? That's eating raw and living foods. Everything we consume is used by the body and everything our body doesn't use leaves the body as heat. It isn't stored as fat and it isn't breaking the body down. When we eat things like Lean Cuisine (processed foods) our body treats it like an invader, and instead of the body doing the functions that it should throughout the day, it is on overdrive trying to rid the body of invaders. This causes premature aging, disease and fatigue! Is that a motivator to eat Raw and Living Foods or what???

Follow your Bliss!

check out our upcoming events at www.myrawbliss.com

LG

Having a Plan

Having a plan for your day when it comes to eating healthy is so vital especially when you are just beginning a healthy eating program. It's important to have what you need in your kitchen and with you at all times so that when you get hungry you don't reach for something off your plan.

I like to make a list of what i'm going to eat for at least 3 days and go to the store and get everything that I need. I know that I am going to have green smoothies for breakfast for the next three days, so i went to the store last night and bought bananas, almonds for almond mylk and I know that I'm stocked up on my green powder drink and spirulina (which I like to add) for extra protein....which i already have lots of in my other powder already. I've been on this spirulina kick lately.....it just feels so healthy when i drink it and i know all the benefits i'm getting. Lunch is going to be a big vegetable salad, so I made a HUGE salad last night with spinach, kale, sunflower sprouts, red and orange peppers, and cucumbers. I'm going to add some dulse flakes to my salad which are great if you've never tried them. they are nice and savory and they add tremendous minerals to any meal. I will be at an event today, so i'm taking my lunch with me. I have a few choices for dinner, either another sprout salad or i may make a kale wrap with veggies and a small amount of sunflower seed cheese spread. I love that I know that i have choices and at the same time, it's all simple because I have what i need.

Don't forget that I can help you at our "Stop Cooking and Start Living class" on February 22nd where you can learn all of these planning techniques along with some great easy recipes.

Follow your Bliss!

LG

I woke up today and it's coooooold again. I know, i know, they would not be happy to hear me say that in Chicago or New York considering what cold means there.....but that's why we live here!

I decided to start the day with Hot chocolate....what do you mean Hot Chocolate Lauren?!?! Well, here's what I did.

I took a heaping tablespoon of Raw Organic Cacao Powder, 1 teaspoon of Maca powder and put it in the blender with 1 cup of Brazil Nut Mylk and a tablespoon of agave nectar and blended for about 5 minutes. The workings of the blender create a heat that doesn't make it as hot as hot chocolate normally would be, but it gets to that nice warmer temperature AND you get to keep all of the nutrients and benefits of the brazil nut mylk and the raw cacao and maca. Brazil nuts are extremely nutrient-rich and contain protein, copper, niacin, magnesium, fiber, vitamin E and selenium. The cacao powder is a #1 antioxidant......i couldn't believe that years ago when i found out it was true!! Maca contains about 50 phytonutrients so you can feel the energy almost instantly. You can find all of these products through my site under my store at http://myrawbliss.com/id23.html

Hope you enjoy the day and stay warm!!

Follow your Bliss ;-)