Small changes add up. Just eat a salad with a meal or as a meal. A piece of fruit as a snack instead of chips or a cookie (although there are some awesome vegan cookies you can buy and so many great vegan baking books out there). Make one meal a week meatless (and no dairy) and then increase it to 2, then 3 and before you know it, you’ve lost a few pounds and you notice you feel good, look good and have a big grin on your face.

Blueberry Cinnamon Scones

Mmmm gluten-free, vegan scones. From Flying Apron’s Gluten-free & Vegan Baking Book
by Jennifer Katzinger.  If you are looking for a gluten-free, dairy-free and soy-free baking book this is the one! Jennifer uses uncomplicated flour substitution, and basic ingredients. This book is full of wonderful recipes and pictures for breads – loafs and quick breads, muffins, cookies, cakes, scones and many more amazing mouth watering treats. My oldest TD made these this weekend. Yummy!

Thumbprint Cookies with Raspberry Jam

And my youngest TD made Thumbprint cookies with raspberry jam, from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone’s Favorite Treatsby Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero. These are delicious! There are so many tasty looking cookies in this book, the pictures make your mouth drool!:) A very thorough collection of cookie recipes that is sure to please!

Enjoy the journey and the food you create!

Have fun with your animal friends!

Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo and Tera Warner  are demystifying cleansing and detoxification. Learn more about candida, allergies, brain fog, hormonal imbalances and thyroid imbalances, ADD, depression, mood disorders and weight gain. Sign up for the FREE series of 4 teleseminars throughout the month of November. You can attend the live call or listen at your leisure to the recordings. For more information on the dates, times and content of each teleseminar – 6 Week Deep Tissue Detox.

Have you noticed how many blogs and forums have popped up dedicated to Candida? I never new what this was until a year ago. I was reading Ricki Heller’s blog Diet, Dessert and Dogs. She has been a long time sufferer of candida and discusses openly with her readers her struggle with this.

I have also noted many others have complaints with weight gain and water retention caused by hormone imbalances such as hypothyriodism. You talk about 6 degrees of separation, play that game with hypothyroidism.

Have you noticed how many more adults and children suffer from allergies and environmental sensitivities? I have and in fact, I am one of those individuals. I am trying to wean myself off of allergy medication by detoxing my body/system.

There are many other conditions like depression, bipolar disorder, insomnia, ADHD, brain-fog, anxiety, irritability that may be connected to nutritional deficiencies, toxins and processed foods, NOT a consequence of your family tree as some would have you believe!

I like to feel great (doesn’t everyone?). I love to exercise!

Running in the morning with my dogs is not just exercise, but it is “zen” for me. I feel so invigorated and full of life after a run. I feel grounded and centered. I know it sounds weird, but you have to wear my size 11’s to know what I mean.

I have a horse and enjoy playing with him. I love Parelli - a natural horsemanship training program. If you really want to learn a lot about yourself, spend time with a horse and you find out all the good, bad and the ugly. It is a journey that lasts a life-time. Well, I digress.

I really enjoy being outside, no matter what the weather. It makes me feel alive and invigorated!

I also enjoy yoga (increasing/maintaining my flexibility and muscle endurance training), resistance training- love Cathe’s STS program, actually I love all her dvds. They are tough, but well worth the time.  And to help me become a well rounded athlete and human being, I am now starting T’ai Chi.

For me, incorporating green smoothies into my daily regime, along with lots of leafy greens and veggies, I feel I am getting closer to being in the best health I have ever been. It has been a slow, methodical transition from vegetarian to vegan to raw vegan food. Detox to me, was eliminating gluten, pure cane sugar, caffeine and processed fats from my diet. This meant increasing my intake from ~50% raw to 80-90% raw. And soon I hope to be 90%-100% raw or if you prefer “uncooked” food.

I won’t lie and tell you it is really easy, because it is hard. Especially with a family that doesn’t always understand why you eat the way you do and not the same food as they do. I enjoy cooking food for them, but I don’t always like eating or feel good after eating cooked food. I really enjoy a good salad and a bowl of fruit. I look forward to my green smoothies in the morning and my latest love – Kale chips. MMMMM KALE CHIPS. But I think eating as close to the source with as little processing or modification is the best I can do for me. I still eat some cooked food once in a while, but it is vegan and gluten-free.

I am inviting you if you are interested in finding out more about DETOX. What causes or aggravates many of the conditions I listed above and how to overcome these conditions. Sign up for the FREE series of 4 teleseminars throughout the month of November. You can attend the live call or listen at your leisure to the recordings. For more information on the dates, times and content of each teleseminar – 6 Week Deep Tissue Detox.

I am not there yet, but each day it gets easier and I find I don’t crave a lot of the junk I use to. I still need a cookie once in a while (but it is a raw cookie) and I do love noodles, only they are  gluten-free or kelp now. I have my family eating gluten-free pasta and when I have time g-f baked goodies. They have a new found love for salads and we make our own salad dressings that taste great and are better for us. One-step at a time, little changes here and there that add up over time.

“Lead by example” is the motto I truly believe. People notice you and will ask, “how you stay so slim/trim” or “how do you have so much energy?” It is all lifestyle choices. And now you have that opportunity to make a change for yourself.

Sign up for the 4 free teleseminars 6-Week Deep Tissue Detox Also, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo and Tera Warner have a blog (here) demystifying cleansing and detoxification along with tips you can use today.

Enjoy the journey and the food you create!

Have fun with your animal friends!