Fun and Mental Changes

Ok, No joke.... I DID NOT realize that I have a sweet tooth!!!  I'm 10 days into this 17 Day Diet and the "sugar cleanse" phase of it and I'd poke my own eyes out for some sugar.  REALLY???  Me, the person who does the Master Cleanse twice a year, the one who can always pass on cake and ice cream???  I've always known that I have very little will power when it comes to foods like pasta, cheese and bread, but sugar???  I cut processed sugar from my diet years ago.  We don't even have traditional granulated sugar in our house... and right now all I can think of is eating the stuff by the spoonful... YUCK!!!  Yep, I clearly had a problem with sugar and not directly from the sugar jar. Luckily, because I DO do the Master Cleanse twice a year, I can pinpoint this UNBELIEVABLE craving for what it is.... it means the 17 Day Diet is working.  Our bodies ALWAYS crave whatever poison is being removed from our systems.  Our bodies have a nas...

With February fast approaching, I was reminded this morning that it's almost time for another Master Cleanse. Every February and every August I try to complete a 10 day round of a cleansing fast called The Master Cleanse. So with cleansing the inside to remove toxins, I also try to keep the outside clean of toxins by using all natural soaps and shampoos, haircare products, make up, even my toothpaste to all natural... well, I try to use them all the time, but CERTAINLY during my cleanses twice a year. So this morning when I opened up my Vital Juice Everywhere newsletter to see an ad for affordable, all natural soap, I was super psyched that I might be able to save a little coin on beauty products this go around on the cleanse... Body Soap AND Facial Soap!?! I think I might have to be all over this one. True Body soap is made with only five ingredients (facial soap is 7): Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, Water, Vegetable Glycerin and Sodium Citrate. It’s unscented, which means there’s no ad...

Ok ... so my favorite flavor is.... ROSE! hahahahahaha ! That REALLY makes me laugh! But it's true. Last weekend, at my sister's bridal shower, we drank three awesome wines at the wine shop where we threw the shower. Among them was the most amazing wine called Villa M Rosso . It smelled of roses and then when I inhaled on the first sip I TASTED the roses!!! But this was not my first "taste" of this oh-so-decadent flower. My first taste of rose was in the form of gelato . My husband and I were shopping at our local Whole Foods (you KNOW how I love that place) and walked past the gelato case. Now I LOVES me the gelato but have a tendency to shy away from the typical flavors (i.e. chocolate and lemon) and I RUN from artificially flavored gelatos , so Whole Foods is my only source for my beloved dessert that I rarely indulge when I find the same ol ', same ol '. NOT THIS TIME!!! Super sonic high five is a- comin !!! White Rose Gelato ??? Yep, they were serving...

THEY GET EVEN BETTER!!!! Welp, since reading The Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko, I've now incorporated a green smoothie into my morning ritual. Strike that... the green smoothie IS my morning ritual! I SO look forward to that morning green bliss, well, after I get back from the gym that is. For anyone who wants to try, here is my favorite concoction. 2-3 heaping cups of spinach, kale or any other green leafy vegetable 1 cup of organic coconut water **(see the bottom of this post for more on THAT) 1 whole organic mango peeled, pitted and sliced 1 medium organic pineapple peeled, cored and sliced 1 large banana peeled 2 cups of ice cubes (optional... I like mine REALLY cold) Add all ingredients above in Vitamix or high speed blender. Blend on high for 30 seconds or until the mixture is blended REALLY well. You can also add ground raw flax seed for an added nutritional punch. If the smoothie is too thick add some spring water or more coconut water to thin it out. Thi...

A few years back I decided to make a change in my diet to incorporate raw fruit and veggies. As with many who attempt the raw food lifestyle (I do still eat meat, just much less and I try never to cook my veggies), I over-complicated things. But I've discovered two key tips that EASILY incorporate raw food into my diet... mix of flavors and marinate, marinate, marinate! 1.) Green smoothies ROCK! Mixing 60% tropical fruits and 40% dark green leafy vegetables together makes for an AWESOME drink!!! What an exotic and fancy way to get 5 servings of fruit and vegetables into your diet without a lot of work! Today I mixed 2 cups of spinach with 1 mango, 1 orange, 1 banana and 1/2 of a large pineapple with a splash of water into my Vitamix blender (you REALLY need a high speed blender for these smoothies) and got a wonderful drink that started out my morning quite nicely. Tomorrow I'm mixing coconut water, 1/2 cup coconut meat, 1 mango, 1/2 of a large pineapple with 1 - 1.5 cups of d...

Ok.... Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko... High Five Victoria, High Five!!! I was SUPER excited to start this cleanse after reading the book and even convinced my husband to do this cleanse with me. I think he agreed to it since there isn't a "salt water flush" to do every morning and I can change up the smoothies every day. Not to mention that the smoothies are blended (more bulk) instead of juiced (more liquid), so I'm thinking that "full" feeling will help the cause. He agreed to 7 days with no meat, dairy or wheat, drinking only the green smoothies from this book for all his meals during the day. I told him that he can drink as much and as many smoothies as he wants. Today was the first day for both of us and I mixed a WONDERFUL concoction using fresh, organic, pineapple, peaches, dandelion greens and celery mixed with water. The pineapple and peaches made it REALLY sweet.... so I would have to say that the first day is a SUCCESS. Tomorrow...

Well... this last Master Cleanse only lasted me 5 days.... UGH! I was so hoping to finish a 40 day cleanse this time! DANG IT!!!! Oh well, I guess I'll just switch some cleansing gears. I just read Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko and now I'm SUPER motivated to give this "experiment" a shot! A special shout out to my sister for recommending the book! What a great (and tasty, judging by the recipes) way to continue cleansing at a slower pace while still filling up on fruit and veggies! You just blend it all down to liquid form with a high speed blender and "viola" super green super food perfect for on-the-go! I gotta admit, a smoothie seems like the perfect vehicle to get the cleansing job done without "emptying" (you devout lemon heads KNOW what I'm talking about here) and time prepping. Plus... did I mention some of these recipes rock? Even though I'm drinking my meals, which I'm totally used to with The Master Cleanse, ...

Meet Charlie. He is one of many helpers in my garden. I found him this morning when I went out to the garden. Prior to gardening, I couldn't stand bugs. Bugs would make me jump and were always associated with fear and (in most cases) annoyance. Now bugs hold a special place in my heart for the services they provide to my organic garden... well, now that I know a little more about them. Spiders I would never have considered myself an arachnophobe, but I had a definitive dislike for spiders only tinged with a slight fear. Now I know better. While you don't want an infestation of spiders, having a few on hand (not literally) actually keeps other bugs away. According to Dr. Linda S. Rayor, Assistant Professor of Entomology, Cornell University , spiders are considered to be the most important terrestrial predators, eating tons of pest insects or other small arthropods every year. And those webs, that have always creeped me out, are actually my gardens best defense against unwante...

Like with so many other natural, organic foods, I'm surprised to find out how EASY it is to make beans, and yet I've NEVER made them until two days ago. So I'm going to break it down to three easy steps so that others can start making beans for themselves too and not be subjected to possible BPA poisoning (in can lining) and high levels of sodium. Not to mention, although I totally am, that fresh, homemade beans are just better for you since the vitamins and minerals have not been depleted or altered. They haven't lost nutrition in some chemical processing or canning process and the flavor is out of this world. I literally ate black beans right out of the pot without a lick of anything for flavor added... and they tasted WONDERFUL! Your health is worth the time and a hill of beans. At the end I'll post the recipe for the awesome fajita mix you see in the pic here. Beans (Black, Red, Brown, Pic your favorite) My method of making beans saves me a ton of time, but it r...

Yep readers... I hit the jackpot! I was at Whole Foods today and headed over to the dairy aisle to find me a little treasure in the form of Greek yogurt. The beauty of Greek yogurt is that for about the same calories as regular yogurt, you get a ton of protein. And in the case of the Chobani yogurt I got, it also had NO fat AND is made with hormone free milk containing all the wonderful live yogurt cultures and probiotics that yogurt "back in the day" always contained. I am IN LOVE with this yogurt. It is SUPER CREAMY with HUGE fruit pieces and reminds me of soft serve ice cream with fruit topping more than yogurt. And the fact that Chobani is made with all natural sweeteners is enough to make me dance a jig.... no seriously... I DANCED A JIG! So here are the numbers: Calories - 140, Fat - 0, Protein -14g, Carb - 20g Here's a link to try Chobani for free: Chobani Coupon What a perfect end-of-the-day snack that is yummy, satisfying AND good for you! You're dancing a j...

My mother-in-law brought this recipe home after attending a 2 week McDougall Program in California learning how to live a vegan lifestyle (she also gave me the New McDougall Cookbook that is STILL my favorite cookbook after all these years!). I have made different variations of it over the years, but made the original recipe for dinner last night and I thought I would share. This recipe is VERY simple to prepare and is by far the best vegan "burger" I've ever had. PS. If you are a reader of my blog, you know that I AM NOT a vegan (I'm not even a vegetarian), but because I share in a lot of the foods, and certainly lifestyle choices, I'm surrounded by those that ARE vegan. Recipes like this that can be prepared quickly but taste like I slaved for hours are always called upon to impress my vegan guests. I hope you all enjoy the McDougall Zucchini Burger. ZUCCHINI BURGERS 2 cups zucchini finely grated (I use my mandolin and julienne them) 1 1/2 Tbsp. McKay's be...

I am a lover of Pad Tai noodles. Anyone looking to replace egg or wheat noddles, THIS is the alternative. Pad Tai noodles are rice noodles and even easier to prepare than the egg or wheat noodles and don't contain gluten, so they are so good and good for you. I am also a lover of the spicy. Anyone looking to open up those sinus cavities, again, this is your one stop shop! Here is the meat version of my Farmer's Market Delight! :) Enjoy!!!! Spicy Chicken Pad Tai One large handful of Pad Tai Noodles (I buy the fresh noodles from my local asian market. If using boxed noodles, prepare per the box directions). One large handful of fresh noodles will fill a steam pot/skillet. 3 tablespoons of water 1 tablespoon Nama Shoyu 1/2 teaspoon garlic-chili sauce *** 4 green onions diced (including the greens) 1 red bell pepper chopped 1 small zucchini chopped 2 stalks of celery chopped on the diagonal 1 large, fully cooked, left over chicken breast chopped In a hot skillet or wok, add water,...

Sorry, no pix for this one. I made these to take with me to the Halloween party last night and returned empty handed! LOL! I was complimented by a request for the recipe, so I thought I would post it here for EVERYONE!!! :) They are actually just a spin off of an old favorite of mine..... Banana Cupcakes . What a versatile recipe! Click the link for some serious YUM! Pumpkin Muffins 2 1/4 Cups whole wheat pastry flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 2 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1/4 tsp. ground cloves 1/2 Cup agave nectar or maple syrup 2/3 Cup unsweetened applesauce **** 1 whole egg 1 egg white 2 Cups pumpkin puree 1/3 Cup crushed pecans (optional) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together; set aside. Mix the pumpkin, agave nectar or maple syrup and applesauce together. Beat the eggs into the wet mixture. Add wet mixture to the dry and mix well. Fill lightly oiled muffin wells 3/4 full and bake for 30-35 minutes (mini...

Years ago, prior to the healthy lifestyle changes, or what I like to call "the change", I had basic dietary staples. Among those staples were bread (usually white), crackers (assorted types), peanut butter, canned veggies, canned soups, boxed EVERYTHING (from mac n' cheese to cake and pancake mixes) with the biggest staple being minute rice. Anything that takes a minute to cook IS ALTERED FOOD, but I won't go into detail with that tonight... only to ask if you've considered how healthy ALTERED FOOD really is? If something is SO PROCESSED that it takes moments to prepare... how nourishing is it to your body? How healthy and fit can it make you? Could our obesity epidemic in America be linked to the very fact that we are not nourishing our bodies therefore our bodies are hording fat thinking they are being starved??? Just a thought, but I digress. Over time I came to understand that anything refined was missing important nutrients that my body needed and on top of t...

What is it we all KNOW to do? ... Eat our veggies. Fitness professionals, Weight Watchers, nutritionists and the like will all tell you that you can almost eat as many vegetables as you want as often as you want and it will help you lose weight. Heck, an entire eating plan revolves around the concept... ever heard of a little thing called Volumetrics!?! But what if I told you that I had a proven method to not just eat your vegetables, but get more vitamins, minerals and enzymes from them and actually use them to substitute the things you already love? Wow... you'd say that I sounded like a pitch man from a sales infomercial! hahahaha! Well, I'm not selling anything, but I do want to share the proven method. When I say proven method, I mean that it has proven itself true to work for me. It may or may not work for you, but ask your doctor and see what they think about RAW FOOD! Actually it's just raw fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts. I still eat cooked meat (organic of cours...

Raw Cacao Chip Ice Cream 2 Cups raw organic cashews (soaked overnight) 1/2 Cup agave nectar 1 Cup coconut water 1/2 Cup coconut oil/butter 1 Tbsp cacao powder 1 tsp mesquite powder 1-2 Tbsp cacao nibs (real chocolate chips! Yay!) In a high speed blender, combine all ingredients (leaving out the cacao nibs... add nibs the last five minutes in the ice cream maker) until the mixture is smooth. Place mixture in the freezer to get nice and chilled through (about an hour) but not frozen. Remove from freezer and complete in an ice cream maker using manufacturer's instructions. This stuff is amazing because not only is it SOOO FREAKIN YUMMY, but it's also soooo much better for you! It's not super rich, and in my opinion, tastes better than anything you can buy in a store! :) Happy snacking on this one.

Tonight's raw dinner was stuffed bell peppers with "cheezy" chips The power flavors for the meal were parsnips, wild rice and nutritional yeast (or brewer's yeast). This recipe is a HOME RUN! Because I had meat eaters at the table tonight, myself included, I also added cooked organic apple chicken sausage to the raw stuffing recipe.... they are on the left in the pic. It was funny to see how the meat darkened the entire dish since the only thing cooked was the meat. Funny! This one is FANTASTIC with or without meat and is a FitterTwit original! Stuffed Bell Peppers 4 Bell peppers, tops and ribs removed 1 Cup organic wild rice soaked for three days (change water twice a day) 1 Cup grated cabbage 1/3 Cup diced parsnip (remove the brown outer skin so it will look like rice) 1/3 Cup chopped onion 1/3 Cup Chopped bell pepper 1/2 Cup chopped celery 2 cloves garlic pressed 2 Tbsp liquid aminos 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 Tbsp raw organic apple cider vinegar 1 Tbsp sto...

Well, today's post was SUPPOSED to be raw Nori Rolls, but halfway through preparing them last night, I couldn't finish... they were TERRIBLE!!! I painstakingly found dehydrated nori sheets (instead of toasted... they were kind of hard to find) in keeping with the whole "raw" theme, but found out very quickly that dehydration INTENSIFIES the fishy flavor of the seaweed. Yah, I HATE FISH!!! I have always loved California Rolls and have never once been bothered by any fishy taste; well now I know why. Toasting the seaweed lessens the fishy flavor while dehydration concentrates it. And yes... I know that dehydration also means that you are getting all the nutrients and enzyme goodness that you don't get from the toasted seaweed, but YUCK! Now, the rolls that you see in the pic are clearly California Rolls instead. The rice did a MUCH better job dialing the fish flavor down (notice how thick I had to make the rice layer...hahahaha!) and if I was going to add the rice, ...

This recipe is WONDERFUL! $8 at a farmer's market, $6 at the local asian food store and 20 minutes gets you the best home made, healthy meal you've ever had. I left the farmer's market the other day with a LOAD of goodies that included cucumbers, green onions, celery, bean sprouts, zucchini, garlic and red peppers. They were beautiful but visibly ripe which meant that I needed to use them THAT DAY (but that also meant that I saved a ton of money and got some pretty good bang for my buck... some of this haul will be going in the freezer! Another excuse to use my favorite kitchen gadget... the food saver). No problem! I swung by my local asian food store and picked up some fresh Pad Tai noodles, some garlic/chili paste and some nama shoyu (raw, unprocessed soy sauce). I would have dinner on the table in 20 minutes! That's the beauty of vegetables... they are the best when eaten raw and can really make a meal in 20 minutes. Here's my pad tai creation ala farmer's m...

This is a FitterTwit original folks! I literally was playing in the laboratory, uh, I mean kitchen, attempting to recreate one of my favorite Asian foods.... lettuce wraps. You will see in the pic that I used swiss chard for the lettuce. I DO NOT recommend using anything but iceberg lettuce. I really missed the cold crunch! But other than that, they turned out FANTASTIC!!! Lettuce Wraps 4 whole pieces iceberg lettuce leaves (NOT swiss chard unless you are ok with a much less crispy and tasty wrap) 1 Cup Raw Almonds that were soaked for four hours 1 Tbsp Miso 1 Tbsp Nama Shoyu 1 Tbsp Asian Chili Garlic Sauce/Paste (VERY spicy, please adjust to taste) 1/4 Cup Flax meal 1 clove garlic minced 4 green onions 1 zucchini 2 stalks celery Set the lettuce leaves in the fridge to get nice and cold. In a food processor add almonds, miso, nama shoyu, chili sauce, garlic, and flax and process until large pieces are processed and the mixture has the consistency of the chicken filling for lettuce wra...