My Daily Rind Journey of a Raw Mom

I blended about a cup of sesame seeds with about 3 cups of water. Strained the mylk then put it back in the blender to mix with a pinch of salt, capful of vanilla, and a squirt of agave. So yummy and creamy and earthy!

Poured this over a bowl of bananas and dried blueberries.

Ate side by side with my grateful son.

Best mylk in the world is made from nuts and seeds.

Do you know that we are the only species that drinks the milk from another animal? It’s time to wean ourselves. Do the research for yourself. A leading cause of osteoporosis, among other insidious conditions, is dairy! I’ll post references to this another time.

In gratitude for the abundance in my life,
Shawna

Dear friends,

I was reading my great friend, Michelle’s blog (Pure Raw Joy: see link on right of page), and I was deeply moved and humbled by her words of praise, encouragement, and support from her about me.

It got me thinking about relationships between women and our power to elevate and destroy each other. Harsh words, I know. But think about it. Women have a primal (albeit subconscious at times) need to “keep” what is theirs. There is a built-in jealousy and competitiveness between women, whether we are aware of this or not. Many of us have transcended this “nature”, but it is something to which I think we all can relate. If you’re not willing to admit to relating to it in your Own Life, then I’m sure you can recall feeling this competition from another woman.

I believe that a vital component in healing our world, our relationships, our selves is healing our relationships with other women. We are mirrors for each other. What if I were to look at you, dear woman, and see your beautiful eyes, your joyful spirit, how graceful you are, your strength in the face of adversity, and I HONORED ALL that I saw? What if I were to actually TELL YOU THAT? Wouldn’t I be sending out a Giant Vibe of Love right out into the universe? Wouldn’t I be loving you and ME at the same time. You are my mirror, right? Doesn’t love heal all things?

Women, we are powerful! We need each other. When my dear husband compliments me, I feel happy and noticed and appreciated. As a wife, I need to hear these things. But when a woman authentically compliments me, I feel blessed. I feel honored. I feel CONNECTED to the Earth and all creation in a deep way.

We come from our mothers, regardless of how that relationship unfolds in our lives. She is our beginning.

Two weeks ago, my best friend of 4 years, or so, disowned me. She didn’t explain why. She just said that she didn’t feel safe to be in a friendship with me. My beliefs led her astray from what she knows to be true and right. She would say no more. I was extremely hurt and angry. I’m okay with friendships concluding and people moving on. What hurt so much is that after all these years of confiding and what I thought was an open, loving connection, she could not give me the gift of feedback. Her words were vague and noncommital – cowardly. Doesn’t she know me well enough by now that I want to hear the truth, no matter how painful? That’s how we GROW!!! Anyway, the mystery of what is going on within her about me will remain, perhaps. The truths and mirroring that I offer in a friendship can be painful and hard for some. But, dear friends, I love you and I care about your highest good. My intentions are always from this loving place. I am releasing this friend now, trusting that she is taking care of herself for her highest good. I am no longer a part of it.

So, you see. We are connected and need eachother’s honesty, grace, love, and connection. We are the fabric of life. We are the keepers of the hearth.

Thank you my dear friend, Michelle, for honoring and blessing me with your love. I love you. All that you see in me is YOU!

Being the beauty that You ARE,
Shawna

Not only is this the last line spoken in the play “Mouse Trap”, but it’s what we had for lunch. Only, this time I didn’t have to rush off to rescue my burning pie from the oven (I was in this play in high school) because it was ALL RAW and amazing. Now when I say Oh my pie, the inflection is on oooooh, because it’s soooo gooood.

Here’s how I performed kitchen magic today:

Crust/crumble:

• 2 cups walnuts
• 1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened, raw)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• equivalent of about 1/2 cup dates, not packed in (I buy many varieties of dates by the case, so it’s mixed)
• 1/2 cup raisins

Pulse walnuts, coconut, salt, nutmet, and cinnamon in food processor fitted with S blade until coarse. Add the dates and raisins and pulse blend until it becomes crumbly and sticks together. Don’t overprocess.

Filling:

• 8 cups total of blueberries, cherries, peach, and apple (or ANY combination of fruit)
• juice of 1 lemon
• pinch of salt
• scant 1 T vanilla extract

Stir well and let sit while you prepare the pie pan.

Take about 1/2 of the crumble and firmly press into a standard pie pan. I only went up the sides about a centimeter. Pour fruit filling into crust. Place remaining crumble on top and press down slightly. Decorate top for the pure joy of it.

Enjoy your lunch or dinner or breakfast or whenever you choose to relish this summer treat.

Love to you,

Shawna

My son requested “the purple drink” for breakfast this morning. So, here it is:

• 3 cups frozen blackberries
• 2 1/2 frozen bananas
• 1 T chia seeds
• 1 heaping tsp spirulina
• 3 cups water
• sweetener to taste, such as stevia, dates, or agave nectar. I used about 1 1/2 T agave in this one. The berries are just not sweet. I usually stay away from agave, especially for my son, but I was feeling too lazy to pit dates!

Blend it all in your high-speed blender, adding more water if needed to get things moving.

I’m drinking mine now in a pint glass with a straw. It’s my favorite color!

I’m not drinking enough water. I can feel it. I’m not struggling with staying raw, but I’m not feeling satisfied with food. I am paying attention to what my body is telling me. One, is the water. That’s crucial. I don’t know why I struggle with that piece. Our water is pristine well water. Delicious stuff, for which I am so grateful. The other piece is fat. I forget to add enough fat into my diet too. The third thing that comes up for me is sodium. Sodium is so important for all of our body functions. When our sodium is low, we can feel sluggish, weak, hungry, and have cravings. If one is drinking enough green smoothies, then you’ll get the sodium and fat. However, I’ve been slacking in the green smoothie department. They’re just not sounding that good to me right now. Ebb and flow.

Here’s what I joyfully ate today:

• 16 oz berry shake for breakfast
• BIG serving fruit cobbler for lunch
• Big green salad for dinner
• snacked on dried mango a little
• 4 chocolate nut balls (Bliss Balls)

I napped for a couple of hours. I didn’t exercise. Cleaned the house a little. Played with my son. Did computer stuff. Lazed around.

I’m surprised that my food list is so small. Seems hard to believe that I ate so little. I probably grazed a little here and there that I’m just not remembering. But maybe not.

Sweet Dreams,
Shawna

You’ve just GOT to visit her blog. How can you resist such a name?

Click here to go there and check it out. Yummy recipes and pics.

Thanks Zucchini!

So there I was in the grocery store in Bellingham, WA last week minding my own business, picking out a gorgeous head of Russian kale. A woman walked up to me and asked me “What do you do with that kale? I have it coming up in my garden, but don’t know what to do with it.”

I shared that I was buying it to make kale chips in my dehydrator, but that usually I use it in green smoothies. She was intrigued and had more questions. We started talking for a very long time. She revealed that she had actually been to a raw food preparation class (taught by a woman named Shauna!), but hadn’t really started doing it for herself. As the soulful talk continued, spirit took over. She became tearful because she knew that she wasn’t living the life she is meant to live. She is overweight and obviously unhappy. She doesn’t have any health conditions yet, but is setting herself up for them. I embraced her and told her that her inner knowing is calling her home.

You see, when we are ready, spirit guides us to people and experiences that will innocently touch our hearts and propel us forward. Living a heart-centered life means that we are open to this flow. We welcome it.

That beautiful woman gave me a gift that day too. It is always mutual. By sharing my truth with her, I got to reaffirm my commitment to my path. I really give thanks to her and to spirit for always having a guiding hand in all of our simplest actions.

After all, I was only buying kale.

I wrote about how to make them a while back on a blog post at got greens? revolution.

We always have these on hand. They are so versatile. You can flavor them any way you want. Some examples of ones we’ve done are: italian with oregano, basil, sundried tomato; indian with curry spices; mexican with jalapeno and south of the border seasonings. The sky’s the limit.

You can snack on them all day as is or add salsa, sliced avocado, tomato, hummus dip, or even cheese like my stepdad does.

You don’t have to be a raw vegan to love these crackers. You’ll feel good about your kids munching these between meals.

For dinner tonight, we whipped up a cashew-sundried tomato cream and a “cheezy pesto” with slices of yellow bell, tomato and cucumber. We piled all of it high onto the thick crackers and enjoyed a fulfilling meal.

So tell me, what are you crackers for?

In Joy,
Shawna

I’ve been out of touch on here while on vacation, but I’m back home now and full of ideas, experiences, ponderings, insights…

The first thing I want to share is that I have succeeded in staying 100% raw vegan while on my travels. It was easy, actually. I shared with you the triggers and my way of handling them, and it worked for me this week.

I’m feeling icky, actually, despite eating raw and healthy. I’ve got a splitting headache and low energy. My bowels have been raging a revolution for about a week. I passed something that looked like a tapeworm early this week. I wonder…

I’m sticking with this wholeheartedly, however. It’s worth it to clean my Self out and be renewed. Oh, and I’m going to start posting what I eat again so that I can keep track and it may be helpful for you on your journey.

And now for something completely different…

Last night at 3:30 a.m., my sweetie was awoken by a ruckus outside. He got up to find a HUGE black bear rifling through our trash. He got me up and then we got our son to watch the debacle. It was exciting and frightening too. That bear went to our neighbor’s house after we scared it off and tried to get INTO their house. His nose prints were on every single window on the ground floor. And every screen was torn through, including the one into their son’s bedroom. He destroyed their chicken coop.

I feel so sad for this bear. Our neighbor got a nuisance tag to be able to shoot it. He’s going to wait up all night with his shotgun “every night watching movies until he gets it”. I know the bear will be back tonight. My sweetie and I are sending up a prayer that he’ll just head back into the high mountains from whence he came. But trash is yummy, so I think he’ll be dead tonight.

Speaking of trash…As I was cleaning up 4 cans worth of trash at 4:00 a.m., I was paying attention to our trash. Funny how the ego can be stroked by something as silly as garbage. But mine was. I was proud that we recycle and compost. I was proud that you won’t find old meat bones or food packaging of any kind. But then…I felt guilty! We can do better. There were a lot of disposable diapers and pieces of plastic wrap (you know, for leftovers). We used to cloth diaper, but stopped about 2 years ago because of rash problems. Anyway, I think we can do better. Scraping up smelly trash in the wee hours was a consciousness raising activity.

On that note, here’s what I’ve eaten today (dinner is still to come and probably 1 or 2 more snacks):

• peach
• apple
• 1 piece dried pineapple
• 1 medjool date
• large salad with greens, 2 roma toms, 1 1/2 mushroom, 1 T yellow bell, dressing of sesame oil, Braggs, and apple cider vinegar.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bear Hugs,
Shawna

We all have our triggers that spiral us into the demise of emotional eating. Emotional, by the way, doesn’t necessarily connote a negative mood.

I have been really reflecting on what my triggers are since I started to eat only raw foods again. It’s troubled me over the years that I’ve so easily gone back to a SAD diet just because of one event. Only, I wasn’t being aware that there was one event. So, I have been looking back on my history (because it does repeat itself) and trying to find clues to what has blocked my success. What I have identified is there are very concrete triggers for me that I wasn’t prepared for. So, in preparation for my renewed commitment to health and vitality and healing, I identified my triggers (and am still learning about them) and have created a plan as to how to be prepared for these situations. Also, part of the awareness and plan is a commitment to be gentle with myself. I learned about myself that I have an “all or nothing” attitude sometimes. Like “well, I had a piece of bread, so I might as well go eat a whole pizza!” I’m not exaggerating. Not at all.

Let me share what my triggers are, maybe this will get you thinking about yours:

• getting together with friends
• getting together with family
• my period
• holidays
• holidays
• holidays
• not eating enough food; i.e. being really hungry
• not drinking enough water
• going to a restaurant
• traveling

That’s my list as of today, and, yes, I meant to write holidays thrice.

How do I handle these triggers, that sometimes occur daily? First and foremost, I visualize myself making choices that are for my highest good and that support the vision of myself as a vibrant, healthy, joyful, complete woman.

And I pray. I literally say a prayer, sometimes while I’m face to face with pie, that goes something like this “Dear God, please give me strength and courage in this moment to make a good choice for my health!” I literally whisper these words from my mouth. It works for me.

Also, I reflect on history. Yes, I can eat that pie, but I know for a fact that I will feel like crap in the morning. I’m talking physically hungover. Cooked foods make me feel that way. They always have, but when that’s what you’re used to, you begin to fail to notice. Also, reflecting on history, I know that a piece of pie has often led to a lot more than that.

The 4th of July was a big trigger. I was prepared. I decided that my joyful experience would not be dependent on what I ate or didn’t eat, but on the pure experience of being in the moment. Watching my adorable son be awestruck by the fireworks on the beach, holding a sparkler, finding the perfect stick for his cousin to make a smore in the firepit…

How many people were in a food coma and didn’t really feel authentic energy to enjoy the subtleties of the day? No judgment here, just a pondering.

I made a delicious seaweed salad and a festive apple peach cobbler, shared by all. I was so fulfilled and satisfied with my meal. My mom made the comment that she wished we all could just eat like we used to. I shared a nostalgic moment with her in the kitchen where we remembered the giant bowl of homemade potato salad, the hamburgers and hotdogs, the fruit salad (we had that, at least), the pies… So very interesting how memories and tradition are so tied up in food, no matter where you’re from.

We had a fabulous day. I loved the food I ate and the energy I had afterward. I loved waking up feeling great and ready for the day’s activities. I loved that I succeeded with making positive choices for a vibrant, healthy, loving, peaceful me one more day!

Being well,
Shawna

*Standard American Diet