I have finally found time and space to sit down peacefully and read through my latest OM Yoga magazine. I am amazed by the arrival of July. Time is moving swiftly and I seem to have had much to do lately.
Although very busy massaging and teaching my yoga people I seem to have an endless supply of energy and feel particularly well. This led on to me considering what I was doing differently and then I came up on a lovely piece in OM magazine written by Denise Leicester who is the founder of ila-spa.com entitled ‘Raw Beauty’.
Denise explains the benefits of raw food, which involves using uncooked, unprocessed and organic ingredients. If we want to feel alive, vibrant and full of energy we really do need to consider what we pop in our mouths! She goes on to explain that by eating raw we will provide our bodies with more nutrition and there will be a higher natural life-energy available.
‘RAW BEAUTY’ gave me pause for thought….how was I tackling our feeding?
Those of you who read my blog regularly will recall that I and the lovely Jayn took ourselves off to Turkey for a week of juicing. We consumed nothing but freshly made vegetable/fruit juices and did lots of yoga and leaping about.
It is now almost eight weeks since we returned from Juicy Mountain. Looking back over the weeks I realise that I have eaten much more fresh, raw food and kept everything very simple. I do eat a cooked meal in the early evening but it is often accompanied by a salad.
My annual hay fever has been improving for the past five years and I can honestly say that a ginger shot in-the-Jason-Vale-style has worked wonders in the last week. Cleaning up your eating is most certainly a brilliant place to begin if you have health concerns.
Now, I am not suggesting that everyone rushes out and buys massive supplies of carrots, cucumber etc but maybe, as with all things, start small as Denise mentions in her article. Simply decide to have one meal where everything you see before you is fresh, organic and uncooked….
This summer we got our act together and bought two grow bags on an outing to our local garden centre. I cut out the centre panels and then sprinkled ever-growing salad seeds onto the compost. We now have a splendid supply of wonderful leaves on a daily basis.
So easy and such a rapid return which appeals to most of us in this fast-paced life we lead. On this occasion I feel ok about fast! This came from one of Jamie Oliver’s books, I believe and is a perfect solution for us as we have a lovely garden which is well loved by slugs and snails too! We pop the grow bags up on trestles and so far have had no problems.
We do occasionally have to bide our time as our semi-wild cat from nearby enjoys snoozing in a chair in the greenhouse. She definitely dislikes us being in her space so we just have to wait!
We have various herbs dotted about to add to the mix; fennel, mint, lovage, sorrel and oregano. There is still time to set to and grow your own salad as it takes only about 3-4weeks to grow. All being well we may have some of our own tomatoes soon too.
Start small and enjoy what you have chosen to eat/grow/incorporate into your daily health plan. Soak some almonds overnight, drain and rinse and eat those instead of cake! A tiny change but effective and, oh so healthy. Incidentally, I do practice what I preach…most of the time!
I do believe that for most of us the tricky bit is the feeling of being deprived of sweet lovelies! The picture above may reassure some of you…. I blogged about these in my previous post on 20/6/14. Originally, it seemed too soft and sloppy to do much with. I left the mixture in the fridge and found that a day later I could form little balls of cacao-flavoured sweetness. The recipe uses raw ingredients and tastes just great.
If, however, this seems too much then perhaps whisk up a smoothie using fresh/frozen berries, banana/avocado and coconut water. If there is a juicer lurking about in the dark depths of your kitchen then haul it into the daylight, clean it and concoct scrumptious juice.
I made a deal with myself on my return from Turkey to have at least one fresh juice every morning. They are the perfect start to each day and I really feel they have been the reason for my good health and high energy levels. A week on juice only reboots the systems of the body and allows time for healing and detoxing.
My next post will be about the wonderful Lorraine who has just completed 28 days of juicing and is looking and feeling fabulous. She is an inspiration and totally committed to improving her health in every way.
Meanwhile, why not eat some summer fruit as you read OM Yoga magazine. There are lots of great articles covering all manner of things yogic and healthful….Arm Balancing, De-Stress Your Life, Yoga for Cyclists and the super Kathryn Budig to name a few. It is a double whammy for July and August, so enjoy some super summer reading.
Love to all and May We All Walk in Beauty through the next two months.