Clean, fresh, RAW Challenge for JULY!!!

Sometimes grape tomatoes do that to me as well. I have noticed a big difference between the ones that I grow & the ones at market - same type (I planted a tomato from them) & grown in same environment but theirs never taste like tomatoes while mine are delicious...I guess its the difference between love & chemicals.

Great to have you Naoko!! Mono-island sounds great - I've been thinking about going bananas lately. As soon as I have some ready I think I will as well. Great to have a fellow 30bad'er here!!

BANANAS!!!! Cheap, versatile, good calories, easily digestible, tasty, easy on the go, and much better for you than those 100 calorie snack packs! Bananas are the only fruit/veggie that continue to ripen in every way after picking. I them. I have 4 different stages for my bananas....GREEN!! these guys are holding, if I am low on ripe bananas I will put them in a brown paper bag or brown box with a ripe banana to get them ripe faster. RIPE!! These guys are just hanging out on the table or counter ready to be eaten. FRIDGE!! This is when I have too many ripe all at once and can't eat them fast enough. I just put them peel and all in the fridge....the peel will get brown but the banana will be fine. FREEZER!! These go straight from ripe to freezer (I don't freeze if they've been refrigerated). All I do is place peeled bananas on a cookie sheet, a layer of wax paper or platic wrap, more bananas, and wrap in plastic & then freeze. Once frozen I put them in bags (I do it this way so they aren't one big block of bananas - more individually frozen). Freezing isn't optimum however it is the prefered method of preserving since it does the smallest amount of damage to the fruit. Then if making a smoothie I throw in a couple frozen along with some fresh to make it a bit cooler. Always try to warm the smoothie in your mouth before swallowing - frozen foods are very taxing on the digestive system. Also make sure you "chew" your smoothies so that you are getting plenty of saliva mixed in. Saliva & stomach acid are buddies. When I have too many frozen bananas I get a bit mucusy - so obviously its not something you want to totally rely on but hey we are already doing so much - there is only so far you can go in this crazy world.

We are one week in!!!!!!!! I am so inspired by all of you taking so well to this & really pushing yourselves!! You are all doing such an amazing job! You all definitely keep me pushing through!

Oil pulling is an Ayurveda practice that has endless benefits. It strengthens the gums, whitens teeth, pulls toxins out of the body & tones the mouth in general, some even say it increases the metabolism & makes you live much longer. Basically you "pull" unrefined cold pressed sesame or sunflower oil through your teeth and the oil absorbs the toxins & the act of it strengthens your mouth. There are a couple videos on youtube but you can also check out Ummbinat's post on recipezaar:
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes.php?s_type=/recipes.php&q=oil+pulling&Search=Search

I need to get back to doing it...I always keep up with it for a few days & then I forget...I just need to keep the oil in the bathroom instead of putting it back into the kitchen.

Great job Ummbinat! No I think you have it private...go to My Home, then settings, and then the third category is where you can change your diary privacy settings. If you are consistently under than your body may start to store instead of burn. I would just try to stick with how many calories you should be having otherwise you could get burnt out. I am way over today & I'm feeling really good!! going shopping for the pups!!

I'm not a really big juicer but I would just say make sure you drink enough juice & hopefully you like the concoctions you come up with!! Keep us posted on your favorites!! Moreveggiesplease (Leah) does juicing & I think she just finished up a juice fast - she would be much more of an expert than me for sure.

As far as that salsa/guacamole article - it said this accounts for 3.9% of restaurant related outbreaks. I'm sure the other 96% is from meat but no one seems to be doing an article on that. Our number 1 reason for eating this way is to be healthy. Having amazing health includes having a strong immune system. Eating this way allows the body time & energy to fight off the occasional bad guy because we are not constantly throwing armies of bad guys its way. I don't bother worrying about things like that - there was a time we didn't have refrigerators - I wonder how our species didn't die out without them!! I guess if you do want to make an effort to avoid poisoning from salsa & guac steer clear of places with crappy kitchens or bad food handling techniquies or just make your own

Some of those juice recipes look great but there are definitely some that look like an upset digestive system. I would steer clear of cantalope & flax together, Worcestershire sauce has anchovies and really any melon with anything other than melons would make my stomach knot up.

I had tons of Kombucha the first time I went raw & I know plenty of raw foodies who make their own. Personally that stuff made me feel weird to say the least. I drank it for the B-12 but really I think I got addicted to it. It really doesn't even taste good anyway (like bubbly vinegar - makes me cringe thinking about it!!) I think its just another drug like caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol (which makes sense because it does contain alcohol ). Just another item to steal your money IMHO.

Good tip on the wheatgrass Sailady! Centrifugal juicers & wheatgrass equals a pile of mangled wheatgrass and two drops of juice I have a twin gear and it definitely works much better than my previous juicer but I like to run apples through with them so it kind of carries it and gives it bulk to make sure I'm getting everything I can out of it. Plus it tastes better!! Those hand cranks are probably the best for wheat grass though.