Melody Monk

Day 16 of Juice Feasting

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:39:56 +0000

This is May 16, so this is day 16 of juice feasting, but I have to admit it has felt like juice fasting at times. Tom has lost 15 pounds and I have lost 9. Last night if we had both caved at the same time, we probably would have eaten something, just to revert to old habits. But we know people are counting on us, so we held in there. We weren’t actually hungry. It’s more an emotional thing. So, doing the juicing is good to make you look at the WHY of your relationship with food. For me, food is my entertainment in the evening. It is my stress and boredom reliever in the daytime. If I am working on an interesting project, I can go all day without eating and never miss it, juicing or not. I will hit an actual hunger pain sometimes around 4 in the afternoon and think, “Oh, hey, I haven’t eaten anything all day.” The problem to wait that long is that I usually will overeat. So, juicing and trying to make sure we actually drink some juice every hour is really very different. And we have not been successful with drinking something every hour either. We still have waiting until we get that power out feeling, and then remember to go have some juice.

So yesterday we tried a few new juices.

Using the Magic Bullet

We really liked: carrot (about 6), beet (1 medium), kale (3 large leaves), and apples (2) – but Matt’s friend didn’t really like the beet. (This makes about a quart) It fills the Breville Juice Fountain pitcher.

I also tried: tomatoes (3), 1 summer squash, and 2 cucumbers. This was light and didn’t have the tomato juice taste I was looking for. I tired adding a tsp of Worcestershire Sauce and it improved a little, but I’m not sure that’s the best solution.

I have been using the Mocha Cappuccino from Bolthouse Farms as a smoothie treat. I pour it into my magic bullet, about a third of the handled cups that come with the machine (maybe 1/2 cup), then I fill the rest with ice to the 3/4 full mark and then blend. It is like having a coffee coolatta without all the calories. BUT I was reading the ingredients and it does have skim milk in it, so that isn’t the best choice either. I wan to try doing something with almond milk and cocoa powder, but I haven’t tried yet.

This is all a work in progress and an experiment. What is wonderful is to feel better in our clothes and also feel healthy. When we remember not to let ourselves go past the feeling empty stage and drink only 6 oz of juice, we are renewed and ready to go. At night, when we are hanging out at the house is the hardest time, because that is the auto-eating period. So, to combat that we have been DOING more. We leave the house and go for a walk or start a crazy project that takes our attention

So, for those of you experimenting as well – HANG IN THERE and may God Bless your efforts towards cleaning and maintaining your temple!

Painful Plateau

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:56:23 +0000

Okay, for the past four days the scale HAS NOT MOVED! That happened to both Tom and I, which is probably a blessing from God to keep Tom safe because I might have injured him if he zoomed ahead of me while I was standing still! Neither of us could figure it out since we even went out and played some pretty vigorous games of racquetball. Now, the question is, have we cheated? Well, truthfully, yes… and no. We have eaten watermelon. We have eaten zero calories dill pickles. I ate a carrot without juicing it! We also had about 4 strawberries each when we picked them up for juicing and they looked so good (and they were). But that is the extent of it, and we have basically excused ourselves because it was all raw – well except for the pickles. But come on, zero calories! And between the pickles and the watermelon we thought we were just helping the system flush itself out. It certainly seemed that way – until we got on the scale!

So, maybe this is a case for not weighing yourself everyday. It can get you down and sorely tempts you to give up and give in to any craving. Our friend juicing with us for ten days says he will not get on the scale until the tenth day. So, each person has to decide for himself. If you are weighing in everyday, you should at least know that plateaus are common and you will have victory over the plateau. Your body has had an ample amount of time to adjust to carrying your heavier weight, so it also needs time to adjust to releasing that weight.

Hang in there and rest assured that you are giving your body good things and after it realizes that you will continue to give it good nutrition, it will let go of the stored reserves!

Day 8

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 00:41:20 +0000

Today started out with a grapefruit smoothie, the recipe which I posted yesterday. I then made the carrot juice blend for the boys, but we gave most of it to them and I got lazy about cleaning the juicer again, so today was basically a watermelon day. I was a little unmotivated also because I was disappointed in my weight loss, only two tenths of a pound. Now how do I know that it was two tenths – because I have this scale from IKEA which actually weighs in decimals! I should be happy with any weight loss, but greedily I wanted more. And that without exercising or really putting in any uncomfortable effort! I am really a lazy greedy person! So, without my home juiced juices, I broke down and bought a Bolthouse Farms Mocha Cappuccino. It tastes really good, but I seriously doubt that it is as healthy as our own juices and I also have to consider the fact that a 32 oz bottle has 720 calories. I didn’t drink the whole thing, but I wouldn’t recommend that as a staple in your juice fasting. It did help me get through day 8 however, so we will see how things go tomorrow. Hang in there everybody – the results will be worth the effort! And seriously – grapefruit smoothies and an occasional mocha cappuccino – it’s not like we’re suffering!

I’m Juice in Love!

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:31:31 +0000

Here we are at day 7 of our May juice feasting. We have realized that it is very important that you like what you are drinking in your juice feast (duh)! We have found three favorites that we like to drink that I will share here. These are juices that we can honestly say, “Okay, I could drink that all day.”

Also, we want to be clear that we are drinking about 6oz of juice ever hour or two. It is better to drink “too much” of these health filled fresh juices than to let your energy deplete and feel like, “Oh man, I gotta eat something.” If you keep your body in good supply, you will be surprised at the energy you will have.

The next thing to mention is detox symptoms. Because you are now flooding your body with wonderful, healthy juice; it is going to flush out some of the bad stuff that has been stored in your system. Some of the things we have just started to experience at Day 6 and 7 are the following: Tom has noticed some runny nose and chest congestion. He has developed a cough and feels like he is getting some stuff up. He also mentioned a neck pain. Melody has had no congestion, but does have a pain that runs from my left ear down into my shoulder, making it painful to turn my head quickly or stretch my neck from side to side. From what I’ve read, that could be lymph glands carrying toxins out of the body. We have done nothing physical to warrant this area of pain. The only physical activity we have done is to take a stroll and ride bikes with the grandchildren up and down the street last Friday. So, now we have borrowed a rebounder (mini trampoline) and we’re going to try to bounce on that thing for as much as possible because I read that rebounding helps move your lymphatic system.In all of the detox phase, we never know really whether we picked up a bug from someone or caught a cold, but if we record the symptoms, maybe later the data will become more clear. So, we will let you know how those things work out.

Now for the recipes:

What I call our BASE juice; this is how I put it in the Breville Juice Fountain to make a quart: 3-4 carrots, a handful of celery OR a cucumber, then something green (choose one: two cups of broccoli pieces OR two cups baby spinach OR a large leaf of collard green – about 12-15 inches long OR 2-3 kale leaves), then 3-4 juicing apples. If the quart isn’t full, juice a couple more carrots until the container fills.We tend to really like the baby spinach and the kale. Once I tried two big collard leaves but that was too much green for our taste. Everyone is individual, so it’s important to experiment. All the boys and I like this one, but our daughter-in-law, Karrah, doesn’t because she doesn’t like the texture of the carrot juice.

So Karrah’s juice, is the following: Half a bag of spinach, 1 yellow squash, 1 zucchini, 2 cucumbers, 2 red apples, 1 green apple, 1 pear, 2 peaches, 10 strawberries, 1/4 pineapple, 1 orange. This made 54oz using her juicer which is a different model.

Melody started to duplicate it at home but had to make some substitutes:3 large kale leaves replaced the spinach, I had the yellow squash (3- 3 inch ones), I had 1 8″ zucchini which i had to cut in half to fit into the juicer, 2 cucumbers, (at this point I had to dump my quart container into a larger pitcher), I put in 4 small juicing apples – all red an no green, 8 strawberries, I just had pineapple husk since we had used the inside for smoothies yesterday, but the husk gave flavor and some juice, and 2 oranges to fill my second quart. I mixed both quarts together in my large 1/2 gallon pitcher, did a taste test (yum) and poured this all into 6oz jelly jars, sealed them and put them into the frig to drink throughout the day.

The reason for the jelly jars is to keep the enzymes intact. If you put an open glass pitcher into the frig, the juice will start to break down and sour more quickly. Covered jelly jars – whatever size you prefer, filled to the top and sealed will keep the air out and keep the juice fresher longer.

Okay, I saved the best and easiest for last: Grapefruit Smoothie! Juice one large ruby red grapefruit. You can do it in the Breville or just hand juice it on an old fashioned glass or plastic orange juice maker. Then add 1 oz of the Vanilla Coconut Almond Milk, some ice and put that into a blender or Magic Bullet and WOW – it makes a great sweet smoothie. You can surely do many variations according to your tastes. You can use regular almond milk and add your own organic vanilla, you can use oranges instead of grapefruit. Play and have fun, but with the crushed ice this will be great for Florida summers!

Cool For the Summer!

May – The Juicing Month!

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:35:47 +0000

May first my husband and I began our juice feasting! Our sons, Matt and Sam have jumped on board, other family members may follow. We bought a Breville Juice Fountain from Bed Bath and Beyond to help us. Having the right tools can sometimes be the difference between success and failure.
The first day we found what I think will be our base juice. Carrot, Apple, Spinach (or some green) and celery. It has a nice taste and we can drink it all day. We were all comparing notes and said that we felt pretty energized quickly after drinking the juice. We have found, however, that with the low amount of calories in juicing you have to make sure that you have enough to run on through the day. So, I am trying to keep everyone stocked with a 6 oz jelly jar for every hour that they are working. If you are home lounging around, or after work, then you can cut it down to every two or three hours or just go to bed at some point! My husband and I worked as movers for my sister and brother-in-law and we just brought our jelly jars in a cooler and had then about every two hours throughout the day and we felt fine. We even gave one to our brother who has diabetes and was looking a little worn out after all the box carrying and it seemed to perk him up.
So, after a whole day of the carrot combination mentioned above, we also juiced some watermelon – rind and all, then mixed that in a blender with frozen bananas and coconut water for a smoothie. It was a delicious dessert after all day of “being good”. We already feel better and have each lost weight. I have lost 4 pounds and Tom has lost 6 (guys just lose quicker). I will try to post our juicing recipes everyday and let you know how the May experiment is going.

Back to Raw

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:29:37 +0000

Two mission trips and exposure to the world’s foods and I caved! The scale shows it! Despite being fairly active on both trips, the cooked rices and beans and the new exciting things to try have made their way to my mid section!
So, prayer request – pray that I will follow the truth! I KNOW, like I KNOW, that I KNOW that food the way GOD made it is the BEST for me! I saw the results, I felt the results, I displayed the results.
The raw way of eating is so good for us, yet so counter culture – the way of the world fights you and tempts you every step. raw food is IN the world but not OF the world.
So, new resolve – pray pray pray to do it God’s way!
I am so blessed – so why do I have such trouble being obedient? Again on these trips I saw God provide and bless and open our eyes to new wonders. The first trip to Costa Rica I got to travel with my husband who is such fun! We met another couple who didn’t speak our language and laughed with them all week as we “talked like robots without grammar” yet discussed religion, raising children, cooking, politics. It was a delight and the project of getting the stairway done and the children’s meeting room painted and benches made was accomplished. (Man that was a horrible passive sentence but I’m leaving it.)
Haiti was a colorful chaotic blast. We traveled with a group of fourteen, old friends and new friends. Each person was unique and a blessing on the trip. Truly, what an amazing group of people! What a privilege to watch God pour our His love through them and to them. We visited churches and orphanages and saw a great deal of Haiti holding on in the back of a pick-up truck as it swerved through traffic. Our white and rapidly sun-burning faces sparked many a comment – mostly friendly greetings but a few hand gestures that were unmistakeably negative.
The country needs all the help it can get after the earthquake. The damage is still visible and tent cities are still everywhere in that area. I wish there was a solution for the massive amounts of garbage. I saw a literal river of Styrofoam containers and the small plastic bags they sell water in cover the streets. We need some recycling gurus to put their minds to these problems.
Yet, they are wealthy in mangoes! Some nearly hit us in the head as we sat out under a tree for devotions! Haiti could probably feed its entire population with mangoes, bananas and beans! So, here was God tossing fruit to me and I sat there drinking a soda! How dumb am I!
Open my eyes Lord – open my mind, too! Okay, that’s all – the quest continues! Have a wonderful raw day!!!!

Better Green Smoothies

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:11:03 +0000

I’m sorry that it has taken me so long to get the hang of making a really good tasting green smoothie. I mistakenly thought that I needed to just wait for my taste buds to learn to love the taste of grass! I have to say that while my taste buds have learned to like less sugary and condiment covered items, I have not learned to enjoy the green grass taste. What I didn’t realize is that developing the love of grass is not necessary. Understanding the difference between insoluble and soluble fiber is necessary. Thanks to a great video by Valya Butenko, How to Make A Green Smoothie Tasty Every Time, I discovered that balancing the two types of fiber is the key to making the green smoothie delicious. The greens will float and retain their strong flavor unless balanced by and equal amount of soluble fiber, like banana, strawberries, mango, papaya or some other type of smooth fruit. We have taken to keeping frozen bananas in a plastic zip lock bag or closed container in the freezer. We keep frozen grapes the same way. So now I use my normal old-fashioned blender and fill it 1/2 to 3/4 full with spinsch or kale or a mixture of both. Then I pour in water to fill in the spaces to cover the greens. Then I add 3-4 strawberries (whole with green tops), 1 or 2 frozen bananas (broken into pieces) and blend. The whole texture of the smoothie becomes so much nicer and the sweet from the fruit changes grass into well “sweet smoothie”. Everyone has to decided whether they enjoy the taste of mango (my son doesn’t like mango so much) or strawberries or grapes or pear etc. Experiment a bit to find your preferences, but be sure to balance the amount of greens to the amount of smooth fruits to really enjoy your creations. Good luck!

Raw Food Restaurant

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:13:24 +0000

I want to give a plug for118 cafe in Winter Park,FL. We took my father there for his 74th birthday! Now granted this was not his idea of a birthday dinner after eating semi-raw at his crazy daughter’s house all month. My younger brother and wife came along, so between all of us we ordered almost all the main dishes and had fun tasting each one. Dad, unfortunately, in his effort to remain “normal” ordered the least tasty of the selections. He did seem to prefer Mom’s Pad Thai dish but, while she did share some, she didn’t want to trade completely for his less inspired choice. The problem with his “Traditional Italian” dish was that it looked like spaghetti and meatballs, but was not hot and pasta rich like Dad is used to, so it left him feeling like it was a little bland. My husband’s taco salad was delicious and large. My arugula salad with avocados was also great but Dad didn’t know what arugula was and claims to hate avocados. Younger brother had basil pesto wrappers with macadamia nut cheese inside. The restaurant totally accommodated his allergy to raw almonds by switching which nuts they used. Dad tied a taste of his and pronounced it good, but wouldn’t have dared order something he couldn’t identify. Sister-in-law’s lasagna was hearty and lovely. Dad said he wished the sauce from the lasagna had been on his “spaghetti”. “It would’ve been better with that,” was his comment. Dessert saved the day, although by this time Dad didn’t dare order anything and said he would take a taste of the others. After I could tell that he wished he had ordered his own ice cream. We sampled cheesecake, chocolate hazelnut torte, banana ice cream and s’mores. They were all delicious and rich! The hostess was very informative and encouraging about eating raw. I can’t say we have Dad on board totally, but he has made statement like, “I can see that incorporating more raw into my diet would be good for my health.” Hey, who says you can’t teach and old dog new tricks?

Against the Tide

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:15:02 +0000

The holidays took their toll on 100% raw. Then my parents decided to take a snowbird trek to our house until March. That has been an interesting ride. Mom is pretty supportive of our “different” way of eating. Dad, on the other hand, has chosen to play “devil’s advocate” – demanding an answer for why dairy isn’t good, why meat isn’t healthy and why the documentaries we have chosen to watch are more reliable than those put out by the FDA! This has been wearing! After making him a beautiful vegetable lasagna and watching him eat each bite with a bit of butter, I decided that I was spending too much time thinking about food each day in terms of “what could I feed Dad that would make him happy and healthy?” I was also eating more myself as I spent too much time in the kitchen and taste-tested my vegetarian recipes. I don’t even like cooking, but I hoped I could win him over. I thought I was making headway when he announced that he had to cut his diabetic insulin in half; until he explained that he was now annoyed that he had to be bothered with monitoring his blood. He stated that he simply wants to lose belly fat and then go back to his old way of eating, so he will tolerate our weirdness “for awhile”. Alas, all my efforts only confirmed what I should have known – that each person has to be “transformed by a renewing of his own mind” and until a person is ready to make a change for their own reasons, you really can’t convince them. So, I am going back to making my own very simple raw menus. We have ripe fruit on our grapefruit and orange trees in the backyard, so my choices are very easy. I am going to let Dad figure out his own thing while I munch on my grapefruit. Perhaps, you also have someone in your life who wants to argue more than cooperate with your personal choices. My advice is to stop trying to fight them. It’s like swimming against the tide. Turn yourself around, walk out of the room and paddle yourself off to still waters. And take some raw food with you – you will feel better!

Raw for the Holidays

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:31:14 +0000

Okay, I have to admit that staying completely raw for the holidays is a challenge. I’ve been invited to a cookie swap, my parents are coming for a visit, and as soon as it gets chilly I want to embrace something that is warmer than 118 degrees! So, I am just going to celebrate each raw victory and not berate myself when traditional holiday fare makes little sneak appearances! I made a nice kale salad today. The dark green of the kale is a very Christmas color, some cubed tomatoes add the ornamentation and pine nuts add little bits of golden glow.This is how I make it: I roll the stiff dark green leaves into a hotdog like shape and then cut from the ends to make ribbon strips. I toss these cut pieces into my large salad bowl. Then I drizzle the dressing (equal parts lemon or lime juice with olive oil. A quarter cup is enough for the whole bowl.) I almost forgot to say that you should sprinkle it with a little sea salt. I am glad that someone eventually told me that I needed to massage the kale to make the salad good. Then with clean hands or food gloves, I squeeze the leaves vigorously mixing them liberally in the dressing. About one Christmas song will be long enough for this kale massage. This activity “wilts” the leaves just like steaming or cooking would. Then I add the tomatoes and pine nuts. Yummy!