Color your mood!

I have to share these good mood juices. Even if you can almost predict by looking at them what they are. Some got a little twist.

Sweet Fennel Juice

Have you ever thought of drinking fennel just as it is? I mostly add it to salads or to mixed juices to sweeten and freshen it up. But eaten on its own it can be a quiet overwhelming after a while. As a juice though, you can’t get it enough. With its extraordinary anise flavor, it is like no other juice. A great choice if you are longing for a drink in the evening. You can leave that bottle of Ricard; juice a fennel and you have the same taste. With much more benefits! Fennel is very rich in phytoestrogens and therefor helping with a lot of issues such as…

• colic, wind, irritable bowel
• spleen
• liver
• lungs
• kidneys
• digestive system
• menstruation
• increased urine flow

Fennel Green

But fennel is also used to treat…

• asthma
• anxiety
• depression
• high blood pressure
• decreased libido
• coughs
• heartburn

And the list goes on. But let’s juice now and “feel” instead of read about benefits.

TOOLS YOU NEED

• A juicer
• A sharp knife and cutting board

INGREDIENTS

• One big fennel

THE MAKING OF…

Juice and enjoy heaven!

Sweet Fennel Juice

]]> http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2010/11/08/good-mood-juices/feed/ 5 http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2010/11/04/jazz-up-your-health/ http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2010/11/04/jazz-up-your-health/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:16:08 +0000 Marie-Claire http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/?p=894 Ah juices, aren’t they heavenly. I started a soft and gentle cleanse yesterday with juices, smoothies and simple salads. My purpose is to start slowly and only drink juices for a few days. I abandoned nuts for a while because once autumn, I feel like eating them more and more. I was way passed my one handful a day, so had to say stop! and turn the wheel.

Juice Up Your Health!

The first two days are always the toughest ones, although you don’t have to feel hungry for a bit. Juices are so filling! No, it is your mind, fooling around with you, whispering that you fancy a piece of pie or a dense dish. So what can you do about it?

• Before you start cleansing, put your mindset together.
• Schedule a colonic for after the cleanse.
• When overwhelmed by hunger, ask yourself if you are really hungry. Is it hunger in your stomach or between your ears?
• The moment you start looking for food in your cupboards, take a glass of water and drink it. Often when you feel hungry, it is just thirst. Big chance your ‘hunger’ will calm down after drinking water.
• When you are really hungry, make another juice. You can drink fresh juices as much as you want or need to.
• If you feel the juices aren’t satisfying and you can’t hold on, make a green smoothie. The fiber in them will help you.
• You can start with  juices and some big smoothies a day and replace the smoothies by juices after a few days.

Drink more water than you are used to. How can you know how much water you need for your body? Take your body weight and divide it by two; drink that amount in ounces. During a cleansing, try to add some extra 8 ounce glasses.

Be gentle with yourself during a cleanse -well, always be gentle with yourself…- and don’t do heavy physical efforts. You will be detoxing and you might have a head ache at first, or feel a bit sick in the stomach. Those are good signs! The detox is working!

TOOLS YOU NEED

A juicer

A sharp knife and cutting board

INGREDIENTS

• Two big apples, cored (apple seeds are poisoned)
• One pear
• A chunk of ginger
• One kiwi
• One lime

THE MAKING OF…

Just juice and drink! If you wish, you can add your Maca in your juice so you don’t have to miss your favorite superfood.

Health in a glass.

Chestnuts

I am picking dandelion and stinging nettles where I can lay my hands on them when I am sure they aren’t sprayed. I remember last winter. I missed those two herbs so much that I was looking forward to spring only to pick my power friends for my smoothies. The prices of free herbs are ridiculous so I didn’t buy them out of personal protest. I am not going to let this happen again, this is why I started drying them. I have a dehydrator but you can use a common oven too. Just wash your harvest well,  dry it by dipping with a clean paper towel, tear the leaves into large parts (they shrink a lot) and let them dry overnight on about 107° with the door a little bit open to release humidity.

Dandelion

I dropped by my friends and they had visit from a woman who ones promised me to give her small grapes in autumn. So there she was, with a big bag full of lovely baby grapes. She didn’t know what to do with them and they where just falling off on her terrace. “They make such a mess and they are much too acid to eat!” I was delighted and so was she because she didn’t have to throw them away and her terrace would stay clean. So I came home with many pounds of grapes to juice. The kitchen was one big mess and abundance; free grapes, free herbs, free chestnuts. I saw them priced in the store for almost 6 euro. I was all smiles.

Baby Grapes

Because these grapes aren’t fully grown in the Belgian climate, they didn’t develop their full sweet flavor but they have such a nice tart taste! So I made a wonderful “Grateful Grape Juice” with apples, kiwi and a pear.

TOOLS YOU NEED

• A juicer
• A sharp knife

INGREDIENTS

Ingredients for Grateful Grape Juice

• A bunch of wild grapes out of your garden (or just organic grapes)
• 2 apples
• 1 pear
• 1 kiwi (if organic you can use it with the peel!)

THE MAKING OF…

Cut large fruits, juice everything, shake it up, pour it into your favorite glass and enjoy!

Grateful Grape Juice

Two days ago I received a message on Facebook from a friend who wanted me to have a look at a video. I was stunned and I still am! What I saw was an interview with Bernando LaPallo for his… you are reading this correct…. his 109th. birthday! He is looking 40 years younger! He is still alive and kicking, full of plans and dreams. I simply HAVE to blog about this amazing man and let you all know about him.

Why? He just finished a new book! It is a book with a beautiful title, breathing energy: “Age Less, Live More” Mr. Lapallo is living on raw food since 1979, thriving, still working and now planning on opening a restaurant. I am amazed AND energized by such living power.

109 years old and rocking on raw food!

What is his secret? “Superfoods” he said in the interview while taking the interviewer into his kitchen. He pointed at a big bowl of fruits on top of his refrigerator and showed us a large jar of the powder that “keeps me alive”. “Never miss it a day” he said, since the seventies.

This is such a hopeful message. I am trying to measure what it can mean for me. I don’t know what his health history is or his motivation to go raw halfway his life. Was he ill at that time or just eager to live healthy? I don’t know what raw food can restore in a body that has been very ill several years. But I am wondering since two days. Even with the knowledge around raw food and the proof I received of its healing power, I am not sure yet in how far raw food can turn the clock around. Seeing Mr. Lapallo is so inspiring that I gained a lot of faith. With the clean and raw lifestyle I am living, I can thrive till 100, no matter what my history was.

I want to invite you all to watch this short video of a man who will give you hope, inspiration and courage to live healthy, to become raw or to stay raw if you are on a cross-point in your raw food journey.

109 Year- Old Author Celebrates Birthday

Also have a look at his blog, where you can read about all his activities and lectures; http://www.agelesslivemorestore.com/

Website; www.RawLifeHealthShow.com

To end this short post, I want to share his three top health tips with you. When I heard them, I smiled because these are things I am writing about, trying to draw everybody’s attention to. It just feels so good to hear them from a man who is living long enough to prove to the world they are so true! You can see it all in this movie;

Raw Life Health Show

1. Keep your colon clean! Keeping your colon clean means your liver can do its job (purify the blood) and keep you healthy.
2. Take Dr. Schulze’s “Superfood” but it in the right manor; mix it with organic fruit and juice in the morning.
3. Eat regularly and healthy: avoid fast food restaurants.