My Raw Vegan Journey Day 11

So far, so good! By day 11 I was getting a grasp of the Juicing and how to build a smoothie phase of the process. Again, the process I am trying to follow is in Heal Yourself 101, by Markus Rothkranz. I must say, I am particularly fascinated with Juices and Smoothies. Having never done them before, it's nice to have some general rules to follow and Markus' guidance has been extremely valuable.

For me, once you show me how to do a thing the first time, I get it. Explain the basic principles and the major groupings, and I get that too. Then turn me lose to figure out what works for me and I am in my glory!

I realized one day, as I was pulling together the raw ingredients for a juice, how close this resembles Très Spa.  In both situations I begin with raw natural ingredients and formulate for an end product that is nourishing and soothing. By combining plants you end up with a symphony blend where each one ingredients melds with the other to deliver the maximum benefit for your body. See, no difference from making skin care to prepping my juices and smoothies.

So back to my Raw Vegan experience. Taste! This is an important thing to mention. Your taste or perception of what tastes yummy will change. I will tell you, a good deal of the juices and smoothies that I make taste bitter and I still haven't gotten the hang of how much ginger to use. But, stick with it and your taste buds will change. This happens pretty fast and I find I now crave green with a hint of bitter. Now I can taste every layer of a smoothie or juice (as long as I control the amount of Ginger). It's really been very interesting, like formulating essential oil synergy blends.

I should also warn you, your sense of smell will sharpen. I've always had a pretty good nose, but for better or worse, it has gotten even more keen now.

I'm still in my infancy as a Raw Vegan and I like to tell my close friends that I am still a bottle feed toddler in that I am drinking juices and smoothies with a very rare slip of a solid veggie, fruit, and a nut or two. I have even been spotted nibbling on lettuce leaves. But for the most part, I am happily living on juices and smoothies.

My travel season is right around the corner so it will be interesting to see how I resolve those challenges. Stay tuned! 

My Raw Vegan Journey Day 6

I made it through to Day 6 (and beyond) and like a shot, I suddenly got tremendously busy so I am writing this in retrospect.

I am one of those "in the moment" people. What I mean by that is that I tend to live very close to the present and not dwell on things to far into the future or too long ago. Good thing I did make the recording on my 6th day so I can recall what I was going threw at the time.

By Day 6 I was well into the swing of things. I was wobbly legged in the beginning trying to imagine what life would be like for the rest of my life if I could not have the "comfort" foods of my past. But any part of learning has a natural evolution so I reminded myself not to panic. I'm just in the bottle phase of my infancy as I learn how to nourish my body and take care of it. Not how to eat. It really isn't about How to Eat or What to eat. It is how to nourish the body and for me I want to know how to nourish my body and care for it while maintaining a balance in Harmony with nature. 

There are a ton of Diets out there and a plethora of people to tell you their way is the best way and you should be doing this or that. But the truth is, as a responsible adult, only you can answer that for you. The most important thing to do is to tune into your body and check in. Ask yourself if you feel well. Are you rested? Do you really feel hungry or are you craving? Do you feel alert and energized? Are you glad or sad? Is it a struggle or does it fit naturally? Or in short, are you in harmony?

For me, I feel very harmonious. I am also very pleased with not having to cook and clean so many dishes! I also like the fact I don't need to figure out what's for dinner for me or anyone else! You have no idea how much time and energy I got back from just cutting that lose. In fact, I rarely have anything after 4pm. I'm just not feeling hungry or in need of nourishment.

So, back to the program. I went into the Juice phase with great joy. Water fasting is difficult for more than 24 hours. The part I love the best about the juice phase is the variety and selection process. I start with all of the raw ingredients and pick the combo I am in the mood for at the moment and that is what I pull together. I just need to keep a couple of basics in mind when I formulate my juice, but other than that I can do what I want. Perfect!

Basic rules

1. Always mix greens with fruit. Don't do just fruit
2. Treat Roots and Fruits the same
3. Mixed Greens mean mixed green.  Avoid using the same green over and over again, feel free to branch out. Oh and those carrot tops and beet leaves are green, count them in.
4. Spice is nice! Add a powerhouse herb or spice to zap the flavor and the power up. Garlic and Ginger are house staples now, but how about adding a bit of cinnamon, cayenne pepper, sage leaves from the garden, basil, thyme, the list goes on. Just don't make it too complicated.
5. Enjoy! If you aren't enjoying it, then what's the point of doing it? Nourishment should bring you joy! It should make your body come to life.

 I follow Markus Rothkranz's preferences in juices in his book Heal Yourself 101. You can find it here http://www.markusrothkranz.com/online-store/heal-yourself-101-book/index.html and for my Amazon fans you can get it here: http://www.amazon.com/Heal-Yourself-101-Markus-Rothkranz-ebook/dp/B0057OATQY Thank goodness he has an eBook version!!

So here is the video from Day 6 and I am finally getting this posted on day 12! LOL Look for Day 11 to be posted on day......... Such is life!

My Raw Vegan Journey: Day 4

It's always helpful to have a plan to follow and I've been trying to follow Markus' plan. It begins with a water fast for at least two days. TWO days notin' but water! Well almost true, you do get bits of lemon juice, Apple Cider Vinegar, and Green tea. Being the competitive person I am, I decided to challenge myself to do the three days instead. After all, what's one more day right?!

Have you ever fasted? I mean really fasted? I've done the light version of going without something or the other. Like giving up chocolate or giving up pasta or bread or soda or any number of things. Other than that, I can't say that I have ever had the experience before so I really had no concept of what to expect. In a way this is good since it caused me to be almost hyper vigilant and I paid close attention to all of the experience mind and body.I think this is a key point to pay attention to here. I was paying attention to my body and trying to make sure I was distinguishing between what I desired and what I needed. What I truly needed. 

The first 24 hours was not that bad, mostly filled with arguments with myself about the fact I really was not hungry so stop drifting into the kitchen. My home office is the dining room so setting up right next to the kitchen when you are first learning to eat again posses a bit of a challenge. One funny thing to note was a conversation I was having on the phone with a very dear friend. She had no idea about my fast and the Raw Vegan journey since we hadn't had the chance to get to that point of our conversation. It was her turn to fill me in on her life  Somehow or other I managed to steer the conversation to me describing this cake my Mother used to make. It's a Texas Sheet cake and if you have never had one, let me tell you it is the gooiest chocolate cake you can ever have. With massive chunks of nuts and all topped with a mountain of creamy chocolate icing. After describing it, there was silence on the phone. My friend finally broke the silence "Janice, are you okay? You sound like you are drooling!".

Day two was a bit rougher. This is when the headaches came on in full force. I broke down and took a couple of aspirin. The headaches were so strong that they came in waves and I ended up retaking aspirin in the evening. Interesting to think about the violent reaction the body has when you deprive it of something as simple as caffeine and carbs. I suppose this should really make us pay attention since the only things I know of that can cause withdrawal are drugs.....what does that tell you? Needless to say, day two was truly brutal. I was glad I did not have to go anywhere or talk with anyone that day. A little isolation is a good thing now and then.

By Day three, my plan for doing a water diet for three days was set aside for a bell pepper a tiny bit of left over hummus and a quarter of an apple. Sorry, I gave in to the desire to chew. In retrospect, I really could have waited but the child in me won and I gave in. I think fasting, and water fasts in particular, are a good exercise to do on a regular basis and for a 24 hour period. I would recommend doing them when you can have time to reflect and be a bit introspective, so probably best for your days off of work. It's incredible how many times you say you are hungry when you really aren't.

On the plus side of water fasting, no need to worry about what you are going to cook and all the ancillary concerns that go with it. Like; Do I have enough ingredients in the pantry? Do I need to run to the market? Clean up? Oh, what's that??..... NO dishes to clean!!! NO counters to scrub down!!! NO trash to take out!!! NO waist by products!!! Hmm. Maybe we should start a campaign to save the planet and have everyone fast for 24 hours. Can you just imagine the effect of zero global waist for one whole day?!

I digress, So now I am into the juicing phase where we get a bit more nourishment from juicing greens and a wee bit of tart fruit. Check back with me in a few days to see how things went with Juicing. 

My Raw Vegan Journey: So it begins

I decided to make a personal journey public. Why? Because it may help others and it adds accountability for me. If I tell you I will do something, then you know I will and, on the flip side, once I tell you something I feel a sense of duty to follow through since I would not want to disappoint you. Yes, that makes me a people pleaser. OK I will own that. But I know me and if I were just dabbling and dipping my toe, I would be missing out on the full experience.

For those of you who know me, you know that I have had a long abiding admiration and fascination with the Raw Foodies out there. In fact, all of the products I make for Très Spa are Vegan friendly. However, I have never been a vegan and my forays into he world of the Vegetarian/Vegan lifestyle has been brief. But each time I dabble, I know that I feel better and have more energy.

So why do I flip flop? Good question! Probably ease and comfort. Although saying that is really silly since I felt more comfortable as a Vegan/Vegetarian and I don't think there is anything easier than prepping food for a Raw Vegan. Honestly! When it comes to fast food, there is nothing faster than grazing through the garden. Done! So the answer must be lazy. Learning something new takes a good deal of effort and commitment and in my busy world it is so much easier to not have to think about food. So then I end up down a slippery slope of mindlessly eating whatever pops into mind. And what is on my mind is not different than what is on many others; it's what we were raised with and what media screams at us all the time.

Why now? Well it just so happens that one of the people I follow in the Raw Vegan community threw down a challenge and I took the bait! You can too if you want to, here is the link: http://www.markusweightlosscontest.com/ I love a good challenge that is posted in good fun. It's probably why I liked marathon running so much. Challenging, demanding, self-competitive, yet very supportive and encouraging from the community.

But why the fascination with Raw Vegan lifestyle? A year ago I spent a month in a fast of sorts to prepare for the annual Buffalo Dance. The goal was to "Walk Softly" for the month before the dance. It just seemed to me that the "softest walkers" were the Raw Vegans. So I dipped my toe in the waters and dabbled a bit but fully Raw all the time was indeed a bit of a challenge. The experience and the feelings were something that stayed with me even years later. With almost melancholy I would reminisce about how healthy I felt and how much lighter and more energy I had.  I has been a goal of mine for some time, to return to that clean healthy feeling. So recently I had been sampling Markus' products for smoothies. Then all the cosmic bodies aligned and Markus sent out the challenge invitation at just the right time. So why not?!

So I started my journey on August 10th and I will be posting Vlogs and Blogs as I venture down the road over the next few months. I am a little excited and a little nervous about what the future will be like.

If you subscribe to the Très Spa Youtube channel, you will get a notice when new postings go up.

Jojoba, say it with me ho Ho ba

Often mispronounced and sometimes misunderstood. This is one of my favorite skin care oils for the winter time. Why is my winter time "go to" oil? We can get to that.

Jojoba fruit

But first, lets learn a bit about the Simmondsia chinenis plant. 
When I was a child, we would go on nature walks. I will never forget the little set of books my Grandmother had at the cottage. In it were these fantastic illustrations and facts about the plant from the Latin name to the plants medicinal properties. This practice has stayed with me even now. I like to understand more than the surface information about the plants I use in products. I believe that the more we understand then the better equipped we are to make the right choices or ourselves. 
So, about that Jojoba plant. A native to the desert areas of Arizona and Southern California, the determined little shrub can grow about 15 feet high but the roots dig deep into the crust to find any source of water. It's woody boughs hold greyish leathery leaves all year long and the life span of one plant can go back hundreds of years, well one to two hundred at least. 

Jojoba flowers

The species is dioecious, meaning that one plant supplies the pollen and the other the flowers for seeds. Or, as Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock would explain, "It takes two to make a thing go right, It takes two to make it out of site."  Since the flowers that bloom are odorless, no insect would polinate so the Jojoba needs to rely on the wind and luck that a male plant is near by and releasing pollen. An interesting side note, in the wild the plants maintain a harmonious balance of 50:50 so for every flowering shrub, there is a polinator. Talk about balanced harmony! Polination happens in March and the harvesting of the seeds happens in October. With Jojoba, you don't pick the beans/seeds, you wait until they drop to the ground then you gather them up. The seeds are then pressed or crushed to extract the oils.Half of the weight of the seed is oil, not a bad yield. So how many does it take to make one gallon of oil? about 1700 seeds in a pound and 17 pounds to one gallon of oil so 28,900 give a seed or two. 



The oil that is pressed from the seed is very interesting indeed. Unlike other plant oils, Jojoba yields a liquid that is really a polyunsaturated liquid wax very similiar to Sperm Whale oil. Because of the unique cheical composition of this liquid it is virtually timeless. It wont go rancid, wont oxidize, and wont break down under extreme temperatures. And here is why it took off like wild fire in the cosmetic and skin care industry, from perfumes to shampoo to cleansers and creams, Jojoba is like liquid gold. 

Jojoba begining to ripen. 

So why is this my favorite winter oil? Because of the thick waxy oil and its ability to lay down a mousturizing barier to the harsh dry air of winter. Think about what this seed went through and the adaptive nature of.... well... nature. It is not surprising that the oil extracted would have such tremendous qualities. The harshness of the desert heat and the scarcity of life giving water has tempered the fruit to bare an oil that has a tremendously long life and that protects against scarcity. 

The People of the First Nation knew all of the amazing gifts the Jojoba had to offer and made great use of the seeds such as salves for wounds, conditioning balms for skin, emolient for softening animal hides, a beverage from boiling the beans, and when needed, they would chew on the nuts to help stave off hunger. 

You can find Organic Jojoba oil in all of our Whipped Body Butters, all of our Bath Fizzy bombs, our Pulse Point Aromatics and even a couple of our Organic soaps.  You can also find Tres Spa prodyucts on Amazon

Life Lessons from the back of a Camel (part 2)

We actually stayed in Phoenix and all the signs pointed to a very lovely time ahead. Complete with being greeted by a half dozen of these lovely little bunnies hopping among the foliage. 

Desert Rabbit Phoenix Arizona, photo by Janice Summers

We never plan too much ahead of time. We have a general idea of what we would like to do but no hard and fast plans. We spend too much of our life running on the treadmill of all the things we must get done the rest of the year. This is the one time of year we get to put the breaks on and simply go with what fancies us in the moment. In this particular situation, on this particular trip, one of us (not me) was determined to hike the Camel Back. Seems she had done it once before and thought it would be great fun for us to do. I was willing to go along but not thrilled at the prospect. I have a huge fear of heights and I was aware of some harrowing bits on the climb to the top. Needless to say, I was only to happy to enjoy the view of the Camel back from the balcony at the spa.

Camel Back Mountain in the backdrop of the Joya Spa in Phoenix AZ, photo by Janice Summers

We planned our excursion to climb the Camels Back another day as we nibbled on healthy spa food and sipped our cocktails. Okay the drinks weren't exactly cricket spa fare but a girls gotta live a little bit. We promised to hike the mountain after the spa and after our trip to Sedona. Notice how we kept putting it out further an further? But as I sipped my Mojito, I was weary of just which peak I had to summit on said range in front of me. How on earth did she expect me to climb that?! No need to worry now, we have managed to put it of for a later date.

Well, eventually time caught up with me and the final day of the trip came. I could no longer forestall the inevitable. My friend was determined to hike the Camel Back and since I was the last one still around, guess who had to go hike it with her.

They say hindsight is 20x20 and you know I believe them. Had I known what was in store for me and the insights to life I would get along the journey well I don't think I would have waited so long.

Avocado, the mighty little fruit

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Avocado!

Avocado Fruit

There are an abundant number of great reasons you should be adding this to your regular diet stemming from the 20 different vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and high fiber. Some of my favorites are Vitamin K - most notably for blood clotting and bone health, Health defender Vitamin C - known for cardiovascular support, tissue builder, super antioxidant. Vitamin B5 which helps our bodies properly use carbs and proteins and it also helps support healthy skin. Vitamin B6 critical for key metabolic process's and proper brain functioning. Vitamin E natures best defender fighting free radicals protecting your cells from attacks. Did I mention Potassium? Be still my heart! Did you know that with every beat of your heart, almost 100,000 times a day we should be grateful for potassium as it "pulls the trigger" for your heart pump the blood through. It also supports the rest of your muscles, your nerves, and lends a hand with proper kidney functioning. 

I grew up in the Midwest and when I was younger I would go shopping with my mother every week. It was one o those chores you did. We always visited the produce isle, As I recall we did this every week we went to the store. My Grandparents gardened and grew a good deal of their fresh produce during the warm summer months and they put food by for the winter so I knew what fruits and vegetables looked like but the grocer had things we did not grow. Imagine our amazement when we first saw these little lovelies. They were next to the Kiwi (another fruit I had no idea about).  Of course we had no idea what this crazy little green nut shaped fruit was so we simply moved along. Besides, the price was too dear for us to "experiment" with it.

It wasn't until I turned 20 and moved to California that this little gem would cross my path again. I was lucky to live with my eldest sister for a time so she could orient me to my new surroundings. I will never forget the first time we went to the market together! WOW What an eye opener, the fresh produce section was gigantic and full of weird and wonderful things that I would slowly immerse myself into learning.  My sister made a bee-line for the large green fruit mound of Avocados. Can you imagine?! A giant pile of them and more than one type! As my sister loaded up her cart with giant Avocado's I noticed from the corner of my eye, nestled sweetly on the shelf, the Kiwi fruit my Mom had such a giggle out of years ago. 

So my sister was the first person to teach me how to eat an Avocado. I will admit it though, I have never been a huge an of eating them by the spoonful right out of the shell. But Guacamole...... now there is heaven on a plate!

So why am I talking about the luscious Avocado in a skin care blog? 

Remember all of those rich nutrients we talked about earlier? Those same constituents are what makes Avocado such a fantastic addition to your skin care as well. Fighting free radicals that can make our skin look dull and dingy. The oil is readily absorbed and has a reputation for helping the skin retain moisture, keeping your skin plump and full. 

So how would you add Avocado to your skin care regime? Ever have avocado's that have gotten a bit tired. You don't really want to eat them but they aren't exactly bad. How about mashing them up and using them as the wetting agent for your Tres Spa face mask? If that seems like to much work, well just place the avocado directly on your face. You wont get the added mineral and botanicals from the mask, but at least you get the vitamins. 

But wait, there's more! What about the oil? The oil is made from cold pressing the fruit pulp to extract the fatty oil. It is then refined and sold as a liquid oil. You can certainly cook with it and drizzle it cold on your veggies. We, here at Tres Spa, use Avocado oil in two products that you can enjoy. Sahara face oil, by Tres Spa, is formulated with dry skin in mind thanks to the Avocados reputation for helping the skin moisturize. For an all over body treat, try the Tres Spa apres Soliel body oil. Naturally nourishing thanks to the superb blend of natural plant oils. 

If you would like to learn more about Tres Spa and our products, visit us on-line at www.tresspa.com.